Chapter 1 — The Recording
Christopher’s silence was more terrifying than any scream.
Emma coughed weakly against his chest, her tiny hands gripping his soaked shirt as if he were the only thing keeping her alive.
Juliette stepped back.
“Chris, please,” she whispered. “You’re scaring me.”
Christopher reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.
Juliette’s face changed instantly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Christopher pressed play.
A woman’s voice echoed across the courtyard.
Juliette’s voice.
“She can’t inherit anything if she’s dead. One accident in the pool, and Christopher will be too broken to question me.”
Gasps exploded around the mansion.
Juliette froze.
Christopher’s mother, Margaret, standing near the marble steps, went pale.
Because the next voice on the recording was hers.
“Make it look clean, Juliette. No mistakes.”
Christopher slowly turned his head.
Not toward his wife.
Toward his own mother.
“You?” he whispered.
Margaret lifted her chin, trying to hold her power.
“Christopher, listen to me—”
“No,” he said. “I listened long enough.”
Two security guards moved forward.
Juliette screamed as they grabbed her arms.
Margaret tried to walk away, but Christopher’s voice stopped her cold.
“Mother.”
She turned.
His eyes were dead with betrayal.
“You tried to murder my daughter.”
Margaret’s lips trembled.
“That child was ruining everything.”
Christopher looked down at Emma, shaking in his arms.
May you like
Then he looked back at the woman who had raised him.
“No,” he said. “She was the only thing in this family worth saving.”
