CHAPTER 1 — THE NIGHT OF THE FALL
The rain poured over the massive Whitmore mansion that night.
Inside the elegant house, a terrifying scream echoed through the halls.
“Please… someone help me!”
Emma Whitmore was hanging from the balcony, her fingers wrapped around a small metal bar beneath the edge.
Her pregnant belly pressed against the cold air.
Her face was covered with tears.
“My baby… please… my baby…”
Only seconds earlier, her mother-in-law, Victoria Whitmore, had pushed her over the balcony.
The woman who had smiled at family dinners.
The woman who had pretended to love her.
The woman who everyone believed was a perfect mother.
But behind closed doors, Victoria had always hated Emma.
“You think you deserve this family?” Victoria whispered moments before pushing her.
“You married my son, but you will never belong here.”
Now Emma was seconds away from falling.
But before anyone else arrived, an old woman rushed outside.
Margaret, the mansion’s maid for thirty years, dropped to the ground and reached over the edge.
“Give me your hands!”
Emma looked up.
“Margaret… I’m scared…”
“Look at me,” the old servant said firmly. “You are not dying tonight.”
Margaret grabbed Emma’s hands.
Her old fingers trembled, but she refused to let go.
Then Victoria appeared behind her.
“You foolish old woman.”
Margaret froze.
Victoria grabbed her shoulders and started pulling.
“Let her fall.”
“No!”
“You are protecting a woman who will destroy this family.”
Margaret held tighter.
“I protected this family longer than you have been part of it.”
Victoria’s face turned cold.
Then footsteps echoed.
Daniel arrived.
Emma looked up.
Her husband.
The man she loved.
The father of her unborn child.
“Daniel!” she cried. “Please help us!”
For one second, she believed he would save her.
But then Daniel slowly walked forward.
And Emma saw what was in his hand.
A knife.
Her heart stopped.
“Daniel…?”
He didn’t answer.
He walked straight toward them.
Margaret’s eyes widened.
She immediately moved between them.
The knife struck her shoulder.
The old woman screamed.
But she still held Emma’s hands.
“I won’t let you hurt her…”
Daniel raised the knife again.
Margaret’s strength disappeared.
Her fingers slipped.
Emma screamed.
“Margaret!”
The old maid reached desperately.
But she only grabbed a piece of Emma’s torn dress.
Then…
Emma disappeared from her hands.
Margaret closed her eyes.
But she heard something.
A scream.
Not from Emma.
From Daniel.
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Because someone had arrived.
Someone who knew the truth.
