Chapter 1 - THE CHOICE ABOVE THE CITY
The wind tore across the penthouse terrace hard enough to make Olivia’s silk dress snap against her legs.
Hundreds of feet below, Manhattan traffic looked like ribbons of light moving between the towers.
Olivia did not look down again.
She could not.
Half her body hung beyond the shattered glass railing.
One hand protected the curve of her eight-month-pregnant stomach.
The other clung to a long strip of table linen knotted around Rosa Alvarez’s wrists.
Rosa lay flat on the polished stone floor.
Her knees were bleeding.
Her shoulder had been pulled halfway over the edge, but she refused to release the cloth.
“Hold on, Mrs. Hartwell,” Rosa gasped.
“I have you.”
Behind them, Victoria Hartwell stood near the open terrace doors.
The billionaire matriarch’s pearl necklace remained perfectly centered against her black designer gown.
Her expression held no panic.
Only irritation.
“This is your last opportunity, Ethan,” she said.
Ethan Hartwell stood ten feet away.
His face had gone white when he saw his wife hanging above the city.
Two security guards remained behind him, uncertain whether to obey their employer or save the woman their employer had placed in danger.
Victoria lifted her chin.
“Choose your wife, and you surrender every voting share attached to the Hartwell family trust.”
“You will leave this penthouse with nothing.”
“No company.”
“No inheritance.”
“No protection.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
Then he looked at Olivia.
Their eyes met across the terrace.
Olivia did not ask him to choose her.
That was what broke him.
Even while hanging above certain death, she expected him to protect the empire that had rejected her.
Victoria extended one manicured hand.
“Come inside.”
“Let the staff handle this.”
Rosa’s grip slipped.
Olivia dropped several inches.
A scream tore from her throat.
Ethan ran.
He threw himself onto the terrace and wrapped both hands around Olivia’s wrist.
Victoria’s face hardened.
“You will regret that.”
Ethan pulled until the muscles in his arms shook.
“I already regret every time I believed you.”
He turned toward the guards.
“Help us.”
One guard moved immediately.
The second looked toward Victoria.
She gave him a small nod.
Not permission to help.
Permission to act.
The guard stepped toward the linen rope.
Then he lowered his polished shoe onto it.
Rosa stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
Victoria’s voice remained calm.
“End this humiliation.”
The guard pressed harder.
The cloth began tearing against the broken edge of the railing.
Ethan saw the fibers separate.
“Get your foot off it.”
The guard hesitated.
Victoria stepped forward and grabbed a silver serving knife from the outdoor table.
She sliced at the cloth.
Rosa rolled toward her and caught Victoria’s ankle.
The knife missed the linen.
Victoria stumbled.
Her shoulder struck the remaining glass panel.
A deep crack ran through it.
The entire terrace seemed to freeze.
Then the panel exploded outward.
The heavy metal frame broke loose from the ceiling.
It crashed across the stone floor with a sound that shook the penthouse.
The disloyal guard jumped back.
Ethan pulled Olivia toward him.
Rosa pushed from behind.
Together, they dragged Olivia over the broken railing.
She collapsed against her husband.
Her hands flew to her stomach.
“The baby.”
Ethan held her face.
“Is she moving?”
Olivia waited.
For one terrible second, there was nothing.
Then a faint movement pressed beneath her palm.
“She moved.”
Ethan lowered his forehead to hers.
Behind him, Victoria rose slowly.
Blood ran from a cut near her temple.
The shattered terrace surrounded her like ice.
“You chose her,” she whispered.
Ethan turned.
“No.”
He helped Olivia sit upright.
“I chose the truth.”
Police sirens rose from the street below.
Victoria looked toward the security guard who had stepped on the cloth.
He was already backing away from her.
Rosa held up her phone.
A red recording light blinked on the screen.
“I captured everything,” she said.
May you like
Victoria’s confidence disappeared.
For the first time that night, the woman who controlled a billion-dollar dynasty looked afraid.
