Chapter 1 - Hanging by a Thread
The mother-in-law shoved the pregnant woman off the rooftop...
But Elena managed to grab onto a thin clothesline just before plunging into the abyss. Her body swung precariously, suspended more than ten stories in the air.
"Help! My baby!" she screamed, gripping the line with one hand while instinctively shielding her swollen belly with the other.
The rope was old and frayed. Every time the wind whipped against her body, the fibers groaned and crackled as if they were about to snap.
Up on the rooftop, Beatriz walked slowly to the edge and peered down. She didn't look frightened at all. She was smiling.
"No one is going to save you this time," she said coldly.
Tears streaming down her face, Elena looked up. "Why are you doing this? This is your grandchild!"
"That baby should never have existed."
Before Beatriz could step on the rope to sever it, Rosa, the elderly maid, burst through the rooftop door. She had heard the screams from the floor below. Seeing Elena hanging there, she rushed to the edge and fell to her knees, stretching her arm down.
"Take my hand!"
Elena reached up, but a sudden gust of wind pushed her away. "I can't!"
"Yes, you can! Think of your baby!"
With one final, desperate effort, Elena flung her arm upward. Rosa managed to lock onto her wrist.
"I won't let you go!" the old woman promised.
Digging both knees into the gravel floor, Rosa began to pull. But Beatriz charged at her, grabbing the maid by her hair and yanking her back with all her might.
"Let her fall!"
Rosa shrieked in pain but refused to break her grip on Elena’s wrist. "I will not let you murder a mother and her child!"
Beatriz began kicking and punching her in the back. "You are nothing but a servant!"
"And you are nothing but a murderer."
Beatriz's expression hardened. She delivered a vicious kick to Rosa's ribs. The impact sent Rosa sliding partially over the ledge, but she still held onto Elena.
Suddenly, the rope began to snap, fiber by fiber. Elena felt herself drop several inches.
"Rosa, I'm slipping!"
"Hold on!"
Just then, the rooftop door flung open. Daniel appeared.
Elena’s husband.
For a fleeting second, the terror gripping Elena washed away. "Daniel!" she cried. "Help us! Your mother tried to kill me!"
Daniel looked at his dangling wife, the battered maid, and his mother standing by the edge. For several agonizing seconds, he didn't say a word. Elena waited for him to rush forward.
Instead, Daniel slowly closed the door behind him. Then, he drew a knife from his jacket.
Rosa stared at him, horrified. "Master Daniel..."
"Step aside," he ordered.
"Your wife is carrying your child."
Daniel walked to the edge. Elena shook her head in sheer disbelief. "Daniel, please... we can talk. Just help me up."
He knelt down and pressed the blade of the knife against the rope. "That baby cannot live."
"It's your child!"
Daniel looked up, his eyes dead. "Exactly. That's why."
And he cut the rope.
Elena screamed. Rosa, who was still clutching her wrist, was dragged over the edge with her. The two women plummeted into the empty air.
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As they fell, the elderly maid wrapped her arms around Elena, twisting her own body in mid-air to shield the young woman's pregnant belly.
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