Chapter 1: The Fall Was Not the End
“Detective Ruiz… it’s already happened. Send everyone here immediately.”
Lena Whitmore kept her voice barely above a breath.
On the staircase above her, Vanessa Kane was still crying into the caretaker’s arms.
“She attacked me, Mr. Bell!” Vanessa sobbed. “She came at me like a madwoman!”
The old caretaker, Harold Bell, looked down at Lena with disappointment instead of concern.
“Mrs. Whitmore,” he said quietly, “why would you do this in your condition?”
Lena almost laughed.
Even bleeding, even shaking, even with pain burning through her side, she understood one thing perfectly.
Vanessa had played this role before.
The wounded angel.
The innocent mistress.
The woman everyone rushed to protect.
But not today.
Not this time.
Lena lowered the phone beside her dress and placed one hand over her swollen belly.
“Hold on, baby,” she whispered.
Then the mansion doors burst open.
Detective Mateo Ruiz entered with six officers behind him.
Vanessa froze.
Her tears stopped so suddenly that even Harold noticed.
Detective Ruiz looked at Lena on the landing, then at Vanessa standing safely above her.
His jaw tightened.
“Vanessa Kane,” he said, “step away from the staircase.”
Vanessa blinked.
“What? Detective, thank God you’re here. She attacked me.”
Ruiz didn’t move.
“No,” he said coldly. “She called us before you finished performing.”
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Vanessa’s face turned pale.
And for the first time, Harold Bell looked at the pregnant woman on the floor and realized he had comforted the wrong person.
