Chapter 1: The Fall That Wasn’t an Accident
The sound of a body hitting the marble floor echoed through the Hawthorne mansion.
For a moment, everything went silent.
No footsteps.
No screams.
No desperate call for help.
Only the faint ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway.
Elena Whitmore lay motionless beneath the grand staircase, one hand resting protectively over her eight-month pregnant belly. Her dark hair covered part of her face, and a small trail of tears mixed with dust on her cheek.
Anyone who saw her would believe she was unconscious.
Broken.
Defeated.
But they would have been wrong.
Because Elena was awake.
And she was listening.
She had known something was coming.
For weeks, she had noticed the little things.
The housekeeper, Margaret Collins, suddenly becoming colder.
The strange conversations that stopped whenever Elena entered the room.
The missing pregnancy vitamins.
The medication that mysteriously disappeared from her nightstand.
At first, Elena convinced herself she was being paranoid.
After all, she was pregnant, exhausted, and living in a house where everyone seemed to have secrets.
But then she discovered the truth.
Margaret wasn’t just unhappy with her.
She wanted her gone.
And tonight, Elena had caught her standing at the top of the staircase, watching her with empty eyes.
There had been a moment.
A single moment.
When Margaret reached forward.
When Elena felt the force coming.
She could have fought back.
She could have screamed.
But she made a different choice.
Using the heavy wooden handrail, Elena controlled her fall, protecting her baby while making it look devastatingly real.
Now she waited.
Because she needed proof.
She needed to hear what Margaret would say when she thought Elena was gone.
A few minutes later, slow footsteps approached.
Margaret appeared at the top of the stairs.
She looked down.
And smiled.
“Finally,” she whispered.
Elena’s heart froze.
The woman who had worked in this house for fifteen years didn’t look frightened.
She looked relieved.
Margaret walked down slowly, adjusting her apron as if nothing had happened.
She stopped beside Elena’s body.
“No one will ever believe you now,” she murmured.
Then she nudged Elena’s shoe with the tip of her foot.
“Such a shame.”
A pregnant woman lying unconscious on the floor.
A baby fighting for life.
And the person standing above them felt nothing.
Margaret leaned closer.
“I hope that child never takes its first breath.”
Elena felt something inside her break.
Not fear.
Not sadness.
Something colder.
Determination.
Because in that moment, she knew one thing.
Margaret Collins had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
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Elena slowly opened her eyes.
And the game began.
