Chapter 1 - The entire mansion fell silent when Elena Howard's body crashed onto the cold marble floor.The sound seemed to travel through every hallway.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Vanessa stood halfway down the staircase, one hand gripping the banister.
Her face was white.
Her lips trembled.
Then, just as quickly as the shock appeared, tears filled her eyes.
“Mrs. Howard!”
She ran toward the older woman waiting near the dining room and collapsed into her arms.
“I didn't want this to happen.”
Her voice cracked perfectly.
Mrs. Howard stared past her shoulder.
Elena was lying motionless at the bottom of the stairs.
Her cream-colored cardigan had twisted around her waist.
One hand rested protectively over her stomach.
She was seven months pregnant.
“Call an ambulance!” Mrs. Howard screamed.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“She came toward me first,” she whispered.
Nobody answered.
“She was angry,” Vanessa continued. “She grabbed my arm. I got scared. I only pushed her away.”
Mrs. Howard's eyes widened.
“You pushed her?”
“I didn't mean to!”
Vanessa started sobbing.
“She hates me. She's been trying to destroy me since she discovered... everything.”
Mrs. Howard looked confused.
“What are you talking about?”
Vanessa's eyes flickered toward Elena.
“She knows about me and Daniel.”
The mansion seemed to grow colder.
Daniel Howard was Elena's husband.
And Vanessa was his mistress.
For eight months, Vanessa had been hiding their relationship.
Or at least, she believed she had.
“She threatened to expose us,” Vanessa whispered. “She said she would ruin Daniel's career. She said she would make sure I never saw him again.”
Mrs. Howard stared at her in horror.
“You expect me to believe Elena attacked you?”
Vanessa immediately dropped to her knees beside the older woman.
“I swear.”
Then she looked toward the staircase.
“I wish she hadn't forced me to defend myself.”
The words sounded convincing.
Almost too convincing.
Nobody noticed Elena's fingers moving beneath her cardigan.
Her hand found the small phone hidden against her waist.
The screen was already unlocked.
One tap.
Then another.
A call connected.
Elena kept her eyes closed.
Her lips barely moved.
“Detective Ruiz.”
A man's voice answered quietly.
“Yes?”
“It happened.”
A pause.
“Are you injured?”
Elena swallowed.
“Enough to make them believe I'm unconscious.”
Another pause.
“Do not move unless you absolutely have to.”
“Understood.”
“Your cameras caught everything?”
“All of it.”
Detective Ruiz exhaled slowly.
“Then don't worry. The trap is active.”
Elena ended the call.
Her fingers went still.
She closed her eyes again.
And became the victim Vanessa thought she had created.
Moments later, distant sirens approached.
Vanessa looked relieved.
But then Daniel rushed through the front doors.
“Where is Elena?”
His eyes landed on his wife.
He froze.
“Elena!”
He ran across the marble floor.
Vanessa immediately grabbed his wrist.
“Daniel, don't.”
He looked at her.
“What happened?”
Vanessa's face collapsed into tears.
“She attacked me.”
Daniel stared at the staircase.
“What?”
“She found out about us.”
His jaw tightened.
“She came at me. I pushed her once.”
Daniel looked down at Elena.
For a moment, something unreadable passed through his eyes.
Then he whispered:
“Is she dead?”
Vanessa went silent.
Mrs. Howard turned sharply toward him.
“How could you even ask that?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Outside, an ambulance stopped.
Two paramedics entered.
They rushed toward Elena.
One knelt beside her.
“Ma'am, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
He checked her pulse.
“She has a pulse.”
Vanessa's expression changed for half a second.
Relief.
Not because Elena was alive.
Because Elena might not be able to speak.
The paramedic called for a stretcher.
As they lifted Elena, her left hand slipped from her cardigan.
Something tiny fell onto the marble.
A black memory card.
Nobody noticed.
Except Daniel.
His eyes locked onto it.
For one second, his face went completely still.
Then he stepped forward.
But Detective Ruiz's voice suddenly came from behind him.
“Don't touch that.”
Daniel turned.
A tall detective stood in the doorway with two officers.
Ruiz looked down at the memory card.
Then at Vanessa.
Then at Daniel.
“I think,” he said quietly, “we should all have a conversation.”
Vanessa's tears stopped.
Because Detective Ruiz wasn't looking at Elena.
He was looking directly at her.
And for the first time that night, Vanessa realized something was terribly wrong.
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The accident had never been an accident.
And Elena had been waiting for them.
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