Chapter 1 - THE SHOVE
Vanessa’s fingers locked around my arm so hard that her nails bit through the sleeve of my pale blue dress.
I barely had time to turn.
She shoved me.
Hard.
My flat shoes skidded across the wet marble, my stomach lurched, and for one terrifying second the turquoise water filled my entire field of vision.
Then I hit it backward.
Cold water swallowed me.
My first instinct wasn’t to breathe.
It was to wrap both arms around my nine-month pregnant belly.
Above the surface, Lily screamed.
“MOMMY!”
I kicked desperately, my soaked dress twisting around my legs. When my face broke through the water, I dragged in half a breath before sinking again.
Then another body hit the pool.
Austin.
He had vaulted the low glass railing without even slowing down. His dark suit ballooned underwater as he caught me under my shoulders and drove us toward the steps.
Vanessa’s voice cut across the splashing.
“SHE SLIPPED!”
Austin hauled me onto the lowest submerged step. My lungs burned. My hands shook uncontrollably against my belly.
The baby moved.
One hard kick.
Relief almost broke me.
Austin wrapped an arm around me, holding me upright while water streamed from his hair and suit.
Then he looked at his sister.
I felt the moment fear turned into rage.
Vanessa pointed wildly at the marble.
“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”
Lily stood several feet away, pink dress trembling around her tiny knees, tears streaking her cheeks.
She looked at Vanessa.
Then she looked upward.
“CHECK THE CAMERA.”
Vanessa stopped moving.
So did I.
Lily raised one shaking finger toward the security camera mounted beneath the balcony.
Austin followed her gaze.
Vanessa went white.
Austin pulled the waterproof phone from his soaked jacket.
She took one step toward him.
He looked at her.
She stopped.
Then the villa gate began opening behind her.
Two black SUVs rolled slowly into the courtyard and stopped side by side.
Nobody got out.
No door opened.
The tinted windows revealed nothing.
Vanessa turned.
Whatever she recognized drained every trace of arrogance from her face.
Austin kept one arm firmly around me.
“You know who’s in there, don’t you?”
Vanessa whipped back toward him.
She didn’t answer.
But she didn’t need to.
Because terror had replaced panic.
And that was when I understood something worse than being pushed into a swimming pool.
Vanessa hadn’t been frightened by the camera.
She had been frightened by who might see what it recorded.
One of the SUV doors remained closed.
Then Austin’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
Someone inside one of those vehicles had just sent him a message.
And when he showed it to me, it contained only six words:
May you like
DO NOT LET VANESSA LEAVE.
📖 I survived Vanessa’s shove, but the people behind those sealed SUV doors had arrived for a reason that made the pool attack suddenly look planned. 👇
