Chapter 3 - A Desperate Bid for Salvation
“Help!”
Sofia screamed upward.
“Please!”
Victoria stood at the railing.
She didn't move.
Elena stared at her.
“Victoria!”
The older woman tilted her head.
“You should have left when I told you.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“My baby!”
Victoria looked down at Elena's stomach.
“That child is the reason this has to happen.”
Sofia tightened her grip.
“Mrs. Bellamy, please!”
Victoria laughed.
“You're wasting your strength.”
Sofia looked toward the garden.
Nobody was there.
The main staff had been dismissed for the evening.
The villa was enormous.
And they were alone.
Elena could feel the rope cutting into her waist.
Her entire body shook.
“Sofia…”
“Yes?”
“If I fall…”
“Don't.”
“If I fall, take care of my baby.”
Sofia's expression broke.
“You're not going to die.”
Elena tried to smile.
“I don't know that.”
The rope creaked.
A strand snapped.
Sofia screamed.
“Hold on!”
She wrapped one arm around the railing.
With her other hand, she kept Elena's wrist.
Elena looked up.
Victoria was still there.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then, from somewhere inside the house, a phone began ringing.
Victoria glanced back.
She hesitated.
For the first time, Elena saw uncertainty in her face.
Victoria turned.
And walked inside.
Sofia stared after her.
“She left us.”
Elena swallowed.
“Maybe she thinks we're already dead.”
A second rope strand snapped.
Sofia cried out.
Then they heard footsteps.
Someone was running across the upper terrace.
A security guard appeared.
“What happened?”
Sofia shouted:
“Help us!”
The guard rushed to the railing.
He grabbed the rope.
Another guard arrived.
Then another.
Within seconds, they were pulling both women upward.
Elena screamed as pain tore through her abdomen.
“My baby!”
“Careful!”
Sofia was lifted first.
Then Elena.
The moment her knees touched the balcony floor, she collapsed.
She clutched her stomach.
“Is the baby moving?”
A guard knelt.
“Ma'am?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then—
A faint kick.
She burst into tears.
“She moved.”
Sofia hugged her.
“You're alive.”
Elena looked at the house.
“Where is Victoria?”
One guard answered:
“She went downstairs.”
Elena stared.
“Call the police.”
The guard hesitated.
“Mrs. Bellamy?”
“Call them.”
But before anyone could move, the villa doors opened.
Daniel stepped inside.
He had arrived.
His suitcase was still in his hand.
His face was expressionless.
He looked at Elena.
Then Sofia.
Then the broken rope.
Then the shattered railing.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Elena whispered:
“Daniel.”
He slowly set down his suitcase.
“What happened?”
Sofia stepped forward.
“Your mother pushed her.”
Daniel's eyes moved toward Sofia.
“Be careful.”
Sofia froze.
Elena stared.
“You heard her.”
Daniel said nothing.
“She tried to kill me.”
A cold expression settled across his face.
“Are you sure?”
Elena stared in disbelief.
“What kind of question is that?”
He walked toward her.
“Where is my mother?”
“Elena,” Sofia whispered.
But Elena couldn't stop staring at her husband.
She had spent five days waiting for him.
Dreaming about seeing him.
May you like
Now he was standing in front of her.
And she had never felt more alone.
