Chapter 1 - The Fall
Emma knew something had changed in Eleanor’s face before the older woman even reached for Sophie.
The mansion atrium glowed beneath crystal chandeliers. Upstairs, the ornate balcony curved above the marble foyer nearly fifteen feet below.
Emma backed away.
“Stay away from my baby!”
Sophie cried against her chest.
Eleanor Carter moved faster than Emma expected.
She grabbed the infant with both arms and pulled.
Emma screamed.
“No!”
For one terrible second Sophie was between them.
Then Eleanor had her.
Downstairs, directly below the balcony, Ethan heard Emma’s scream and looked up.
“Mom?”
Eleanor turned toward the railing.
Emma saw where she was going.
“No! Eleanor!”
She lunged.
Too late.
Eleanor thrust Sophie beyond the railing.
And released her.
“ETHAN!”
Sophie dropped.
Ethan ran.
He threw himself beneath her, arms extended.
The baby fell into his chest.
Ethan bent hard from momentum but stayed upright, clutching Sophie with both arms.
She cried.
Alive.
Safe.
Ethan stared upward.
“What the hell did you do?”
Emma was shaking so hard she could barely stand.
Then she remembered the envelope.
The cream envelope hidden inside her clutch.
She pulled it free.
“You wanted Sophie gone because of this.”
Eleanor froze.
Emma held it toward her.
Eleanor snatched it.
The wax seal faced upward.
A black crest pressed into ivory wax.
Eleanor’s expression changed instantly.
Not anger.
Fear.
Her fingers trembled.
Ethan stared from below.
“What is that?”
Eleanor looked at Sophie alive in Ethan’s arms.
Then at envelope.
“She was never supposed to survive long enough to inherit it.”
Silence swallowed atrium.
Emma stopped breathing.
“Inherit what?”
Eleanor tore at edge.
Emma grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
Eleanor pulled away.
“You have no idea what this is.”
“Then tell me.”
Eleanor looked at seal again.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if this envelope is real, Sophie doesn’t inherit money.”
Emma stared.
“What does she inherit?”
Eleanor’s voice dropped.
“Control.”
Before Emma could ask more, Ethan came rushing up stairs with Sophie in his arms.
Eleanor stepped backward.
For first time in her life, matriarch of Carter family looked trapped.
Then front door below opened.
A man in gray suit entered foyer.
He looked up and saw envelope.
His face went white.
“Don’t open that.”
Everyone turned.
Ethan recognized him.
“Mr. Vale?”
Gabriel Vale had been Eleanor’s late husband’s attorney for thirty years.
He pointed at wax seal.
“That document was supposed to remain sealed until Sophie’s eighth birthday.”
Emma looked at her infant daughter.
Eight years old.
“That’s seven years from now.”
Gabriel nodded.
May you like
“Which means someone sent it tonight because they believed Sophie wouldn’t make it to eight.”
And Eleanor suddenly looked even more terrified.
