Chapter 1 - The Edge
“GET OUT OF MY FAMILY.”
Celestine Vale’s voice was almost calm.
That was what Maren remembered most.
Not the screaming.
Not the wind tearing across the cliffs behind the Vale estate.
Not the music drifting from the wedding tent fifty yards away.
Celestine’s calm.
And Elodie’s little white shoes dangling over open air.
Maren stopped breathing.
Her four-year-old daughter was hanging beyond the cliff, Celestine’s hands locked around the child’s arms.
“Mommy!”
Elodie kicked desperately.
Pebbles broke loose beneath Celestine’s heels and disappeared into the ocean mist.
“Celestine.”
Maren kept her voice low.
“Give her to me.”
Celestine smiled.
Behind her, white roses and champagne-colored ribbons fluttered around the estate where Adrian Vale was supposed to marry another woman in less than twenty minutes.
“She was never supposed to come back.”
Maren took one step forward.
Celestine loosened one hand.
Elodie screamed.
Maren ran.
She hit Celestine hard enough to twist her sideways, wrapped both arms around Elodie, and dragged her onto solid ground.
They fell together.
Maren immediately rolled away from the cliff, crushing Elodie against her chest.
Her daughter was sobbing so violently she could barely breathe.
“Mommy… she wants me gone!”
“I know, baby. I’ve got you.”
Maren raised her head.
Celestine was standing again.
No apology.
No panic.
Nothing.
“You should’ve stayed in Oregon,” Celestine whispered.
Maren pushed Elodie behind her.
Celestine rushed them.
Maren knocked her arm aside.
Celestine came again.
This time Maren shoved her with both hands.
Hard.
Celestine staggered backward.
Her expression changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
Her right heel slipped.
“Maren—”
Then she disappeared.
Her scream ripped through the air.
Maren dropped to the ground, clutching Elodie, unable to look over the edge.
For three seconds there was nothing except the wind.
Then people started running from the wedding.
Adrian was first.
Still wearing his tuxedo.
Still wearing the boutonniere meant for the ceremony.
He saw Maren.
He saw Elodie crying against her.
Then he looked toward the cliff.
“What happened?”
Maren stared at the man who had once promised to protect her forever.
The man who had believed his sister instead.
The man who had abandoned his own daughter three years earlier because of one piece of paper.
Before Maren could answer, Elodie lifted her tear-soaked face.
“That lady tried to make me fall.”
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Adrian went completely still.
And Maren realized the secret Celestine had protected for three years was finally beginning to crack.
