Chapter 1 - ONE MINUTE BEFORE THE FALL
Julian lunged across the ruined gift display, and I drove my silver heel into the center of his chest.
The kick folded him backward into a stack of torn boxes. I landed badly, pain shooting through my hip, but my left hand never left my eight-month belly.
“You barren piece of trash,” he spat before the breath went out of him.
Blood warmed the corner of my mouth. Behind him, his twenty-two-year-old mistress stood beside the white floral wall in a champagne satin dress, one hand resting theatrically over her flat stomach.
Chloe had walked into my baby shower holding Julian’s hand. She had accepted a glass of champagne from my mother-in-law, taken two calm sips, and then announced she was carrying the child the Vances had been waiting for.
When I told them to leave, Julian struck me in the stomach and sent me through the cupcake stand.
Now he staggered upright, staring at me as if I had violated some private rule by fighting back.
“Stay away from my child,” I said.
His mother, Beatrice, began clapping again.
Slowly. Deliberately.
Arthur Vance stood beside her in his tuxedo, more irritated by the broken decorations than by his son assaulting a pregnant woman.
“You’ve always been too dramatic, Clara,” Arthur said.
Several guests lowered their eyes. Others watched with the tense attention of people waiting to see which version of the story they would later be expected to repeat.
That was when I noticed something I should have noticed earlier.
The head of Vance Medical’s human-resources department was standing near the bar.
So was Julian’s corporate attorney.
Neither man had spoken to me once during my pregnancy.
I wiped my mouth and raised my cracked wristwatch.
1:59 p.m.
“Look at the time, Julian.”
His expression changed as two figures in navy federal jackets entered from the service corridor. Agent Rachel Cole touched her earpiece. Agent Dean Mercer moved toward the ballroom doors as guests instinctively stepped aside.
Julian looked from the agents to me.
Rachel reached him first.
“Julian Vance, keep your hands where I can see them.”
Arthur demanded to know what was happening. Beatrice stopped clapping. Chloe backed into the floral wall and dropped her champagne glass.
I thought the moment I had spent fourteen months preparing for had finally arrived.
Then Rachel glanced at me.
“Clara,” she said quietly, “the search team found approvals issued under your credentials.”
May you like
Julian smiled despite the agent gripping his arm.
“They weren’t just investigating us,” he said. “They were investigating her.”
