Chapter 1 - The FallThe snow swallowed my scream.
For one terrifying second, I floated through empty air.
Then my body slammed against a rocky ledge.
Pain exploded through my ribs.
My wrist twisted beneath me.
My stomach struck the edge so violently that I thought my baby was gone.
“Please…”
My voice was barely audible.
“Please, God…”
I pressed both hands against my stomach.
Nothing.
Then another movement.
A tiny kick.
My baby was alive.
I started crying.
Not because I was afraid to die.
Because I was afraid my child would die with me.
Above the cliff, Victor stood beside Serena.
They looked like silhouettes against the snow.
I could barely see them.
But I heard Serena.
“Is she dead?”
Victor laughed.
“For fifty million dollars, she'd better be.”
Then they walked away.
My husband.
The man who had promised to love me until death.
He had just pushed me toward it.
I closed my eyes.
I thought about our wedding.
The white roses.
The promises.
The way Victor had held my face and told me I was his entire world.
How stupid I had been.
I had spent years believing his affection was real.
Then the insurance policy appeared.
Fifty million dollars.
Victor had insisted I increase my coverage after discovering I was pregnant.
“At least the baby will be protected,” he'd told me.
I had believed him.
I hadn't known he was protecting his future.
Not ours.
His.
The wind became louder.
Snow covered my legs.
My fingers were turning numb.
I tried to move.
Pain ripped through my body.
I screamed.
Then I heard something.
A distant mechanical sound.
A helicopter.
I lifted my head.
A powerful searchlight moved across the mountain.
Someone had found me.
A cable descended.
A man came down through the storm.
He wore a black overcoat.
Silver hair whipped across his face.
When he reached the ledge, he stared at me.
His expression changed.
“Elena?”
I froze.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it only once before.
In an old recording my mother had left behind.
My mother had spent years refusing to tell me who my father was.
Before she died, she gave me one photograph.
A man standing beside her.
Adrian Cross.
Billionaire.
Founder of Cross Atlantic Insurance Group.
My biological father.
I had never met him.
Now he was kneeling beside me on a mountain.
He touched my face.
“Stay awake.”
“I…”
“You're going home.”
“My baby.”
His eyes moved toward my stomach.
“We're saving both of you.”
He lifted me into his arms.
The pain became unbearable.
I screamed.
He held me tighter.
“Don't look down.”
I didn't.
I looked at him.
And for the first time in my life, I saw something in another man's eyes that Victor had never shown me.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of losing me.
“Dad…”
The word escaped before I could stop it.
Adrian froze.
Then his face crumpled.
“I've got you.”
May you like
He pulled me toward the helicopter.
“You're not dying tonight.”
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