Chapter 1 - The Curtain
The curtain ripped another inch.
Claire Bennett looked down at two stories of empty air and screamed, "Daniel!"
Her bare feet kicked above the stone courtyard. Eight months pregnant, she had one fist twisted in the heavy bedroom curtain and the other arm wrapped beneath her belly as if she could somehow hold the baby inside her by force.
Behind her, Rosa Rowland dropped to the floor and caught Claire's wrist.
"I've got you!" the sixty-eight-year-old housekeeper gasped. "Don't look down. Look at me."
Claire tried. Then Eleanor Bennett stepped onto the balcony threshold.
For one terrible second Claire expected her mother-in-law to help.
Instead, Eleanor placed the heel of her shoe on Rosa's fingers.
Rosa cried out.
"Let her fall," Eleanor said.
Claire stopped screaming. The words were too calm to misunderstand.
Then Daniel rushed into the room.
Relief hit Claire so hard she almost laughed. "Daniel! Help me!"
He knelt beside Rosa, but he did not grab Claire's arm. He reached into his pocket and opened a folding knife.
"Daniel?"
His eyes moved from Claire's face to her stomach.
"Mother was right," he said.
He began sawing through the curtain.
Claire's breath vanished. "You're trying to kill us."
Daniel's jaw tightened. "That child isn't inheriting anything."
The fabric jerked in Claire's hand.
Rosa, still pinned beneath Eleanor's shoe, twisted her head toward Daniel. "Then you still don't know what your father changed in the will."
Daniel froze.
So did Eleanor.
Rosa used the instant. She yanked her hand free, slammed her shoulder into Daniel, and grabbed Claire with both hands.
"Pull!" Rosa screamed.
The curtain tore loose.
Claire dropped.
A canvas awning over the lower terrace caught her like a sling, split down the middle, and dumped her onto a bed of wet hydrangeas. Pain exploded through her hip. Somewhere above, Eleanor shouted Daniel's name.
Claire pressed both hands to her belly.
"Baby," she whispered. "Please."
A kick answered.
She started sobbing.
The gardener, Miguel, came running from the greenhouse. Rosa appeared at the upstairs window and shouted, "Call 911! Do not let Mr. Bennett near her!"
Daniel leaned over the broken balcony rail.
His face had changed. The fear was gone. The loving husband was gone.
He looked down at Claire with the flat calculation of a man whose plan had failed.
Then Rosa shouted one more thing before Eleanor dragged her away from the window.
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"Claire! Charles left you the key!"
And Claire realized the fall had only been the beginning.
