Chapter 1 - THE BRANCH BROKE
The branch snapped.
For one terrifying second, Clara Bennett felt nothing beneath her hands.
Then she fell.
“CLARA!”
Margaret’s scream disappeared beneath the roar of the wind.
Clara’s stomach seemed to rise into her chest as the cliff rushed past her.
She instinctively wrapped both arms around her pregnant belly.
“Please.”
It was the only word she could force from her mouth.
“Please save my baby.”
Twenty feet above her, Daniel stood at the edge of the cliff.
The knife was still in his hand.
Beside him stood his mother, Eleanor Bennett.
Neither of them reached for her.
Neither of them screamed for help.
Eleanor simply stared down.
Cold.
Calm.
Almost relieved.
Then Clara disappeared into the darkness.
Daniel stumbled backward.
His face had gone white.
“Mother…”
Eleanor grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.”
Daniel stared at her.
“We killed them.”
“No.”
Eleanor's voice was frighteningly steady.
“We survived them.”
Daniel looked toward the broken rescue rope lying in the dirt.
Margaret had thrown that rope down only minutes earlier.
She had tried to save Clara.
Daniel had cut it.
Then he had shoved Margaret over the edge.
His hands began shaking.
“What if someone saw us?”
“No one did.”
“The coachman—”
“Ran after the horses.”
“The servants?”
“Back at the estate.”
Daniel looked over the cliff again.
“We need to go down there.”
Eleanor's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“To make sure they're—”
“Dead?”
Daniel couldn't finish the sentence.
Eleanor stepped closer.
“You just watched a pregnant woman fall more than a hundred feet.”
“She’s my wife.”
“She was your wife.”
Daniel flinched.
Eleanor lowered her voice.
“And if she survived, Daniel, everything your father built could belong to her child.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
That sentence changed something in his face.
Fear became calculation.
Clara had always known Daniel loved money.
She had never understood how much.
Until today.
Eleanor picked up the severed rope.
“We leave.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then followed her.
Neither noticed the strip of blue fabric caught on a thorn bush several yards below.
It belonged to Margaret’s dress.
And Margaret was still alive.
Far beneath them, Clara crashed through a canopy of pine branches.
One branch struck her shoulder.
Another tore the sleeve from her dress.
Then her body slammed into a muddy slope.
She rolled.
Faster.
Faster.
Until something caught her ankle.
Clara stopped with a violent jerk.
Pain exploded through her hip.
She opened her eyes.
Everything was blurred.
Blood ran down the side of her face.
“Baby…”
She placed one trembling hand over her stomach.
She waited.
Nothing.
“No.”
She pressed harder.
“Please.”
Then she felt it.
A tiny movement.
Clara began sobbing.
“Oh, thank God.”
A groan came from somewhere nearby.
Clara froze.
“Margaret?”
Silence.
“Margaret!”
Another weak groan.
Clara dragged herself through the mud.
Every movement sent pain through her ribs.
She found Margaret lying beneath a fallen pine tree.
The elderly maid's gray hair was soaked with blood.
Her left arm rested at an unnatural angle.
“Margaret.”
Clara dropped beside her.
Margaret slowly opened her eyes.
“You…”
Her voice barely existed.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
Margaret gave a painful laugh.
“Apparently God isn't finished making trouble with us.”
Clara almost laughed.
Almost.
Then she remembered Daniel.
She remembered the knife.
She remembered him cutting the rope.
Her husband had looked directly into her eyes while doing it.
Clara's face crumpled.
“Why?”
Margaret looked away.
“Margaret.”
The old woman remained silent.
“You know something.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Please.”
Clara grabbed her good hand.
“My husband just tried to kill me.”
Margaret opened her eyes again.
“And his mother tried first.”
Clara went still.
“What?”
“The carriage.”
Margaret coughed.
“That wasn't an accident.”
Clara stared at her.
“The brake line was cut.”
The cold inside Clara became worse than the wind.
“How do you know?”
“I saw Eleanor near the carriage house this morning.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't understand what she was doing until the carriage started running.”
Clara struggled to breathe.
Margaret squeezed her fingers.
“There is something else.”
Clara leaned closer.
Margaret's voice became a whisper.
“Daniel didn't try to kill you because he stopped loving you.”
Clara stared at her.
“He tried to kill you because of your baby.”
Clara instinctively covered her stomach.
“What about my baby?”
Margaret's eyes filled with fear.
“Your child inherits something Daniel was never supposed to have.”
Before Clara could ask another question, a sound echoed from above.
Men shouting.
Clara looked toward the cliff.
“Rescuers?”
Margaret listened.
Then terror crossed her face.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
Margaret gripped Clara's wrist.
“Because they're calling Daniel's name.”
Clara heard it clearly now.
“Mr. Bennett!”
Another voice followed.
“We found a way down!”
Clara's relief vanished.
Margaret tried to sit up.
“Clara.”
“What?”
“If Daniel sent them…”
The old maid looked toward the trees.
“…they aren't coming to rescue us.”
A lantern appeared through the darkness.
Then another.
And another.
Clara placed both hands over her unborn child.
Above them, a man's voice shouted through the forest.
“Check every body.”
Another answered.
“And if the wife is breathing?”
A pause followed.
May you like
Then came the words that froze Clara's blood.
“Mr. Bennett said make sure she stops.”
