Chapter 1 - The Precipice of Betrayal
Nine months pregnant, I thought my husband had taken me to Montana for one last peaceful trip before our son was born.
I was wrong. He had taken me there to kill us.
The wind screamed across the frozen cliffs of Glacier National Park as I struggled through the snow, one hand clutching my swollen stomach.
“Brandon, please,” I begged. “I just want to go home.”
He stared at me with a coldness I had never seen before. Then he stepped closer. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Before I could react, his hands slammed into my shoulders. He shoved me over the cliff. My scream disappeared into the storm. I clawed at the ice, but my fingers found nothing. Then my body crashed onto a narrow ledge far below. Pain tore through me. I immediately wrapped both arms around my stomach.
“Please…” I whispered. “Please, baby. Stay with me.”
Above me, Brandon appeared at the edge. And he was smiling. “You and the baby were worth fifty million dollars,” he called down.
My blood turned cold. Then another voice came from behind him. “Is she dead?” Gretchen. His so-called executive assistant.
Brandon laughed. “For fifty million? She better be.”
That was when I finally understood. The isolated hiking trail. The sudden insurance policy. His insistence that I come despite being nine months pregnant. None of it had been an accident. He had planned this. They walked away, leaving me alone beneath the falling snow.
For nearly two hours, I fought to stay conscious. Every time my eyes closed, I pressed my hand against my stomach. Then—a tiny kick. My baby was still alive.
“So am I,” I whispered.
I forced myself to breathe. One breath. Then another. Until a strange light suddenly swept across the snow. I looked up. A black helicopter was hovering above the ridge. A rescue cable dropped through the storm. Moments later, a man in alpine rescue gear descended toward me. He landed beside my body, ripped off his goggles—and froze.
His eyes locked onto mine.
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“Wait…” His voice trembled. “I know you.”
And in that instant, I realized the man who had come to save my life might know exactly why my husband wanted me dead.
