Chapter 1 - The Floor Beneath Her FeetManhattan glittered beneath the Villaseñor penthouse like a kingdom made of diamonds.
Forty-eight stories below, traffic crawled through the streets in ribbons of white and red. Helicopters moved between skyscrapers. The Hudson reflected the last bruised colors of sunset.
Inside the penthouse, everything was designed to suggest permanence.
Marble columns. Italian furniture. Black walnut walls. Floor-to-ceiling windows.
And, at the center of the observatory, a massive transparent glass floor suspended above the service shaft.
Chloe Villaseñor stood directly over it.
One hand rested protectively over her swollen stomach.
She was seven months pregnant.
For the first time since marrying David, she allowed herself to imagine that the nightmare surrounding his family might finally be over.
Then came the sound.
A low metallic groan.
Chloe froze.
The glass beneath her feet trembled.
A thin crack appeared beneath her heel.
Then another.
Then dozens.
The transparent floor exploded into a spiderweb of fractures.
Chloe screamed.
The center panel dropped several inches.
Her feet slipped.
For one horrifying second, she was no longer standing on a floor.
She was standing over open air.
Her unborn child kicked violently inside her.
"David!"
Her fingers clawed desperately at the polished surface.
Across the room, Eleanor Villaseñor watched.
She was seventy, elegant, perfectly composed, one hand resting on a brass-tipped cane.
She did not scream.
She did not move.
Instead, her eyes remained fixed on Chloe.
Cold.
Calculating.
Waiting.
May you like
Then the floor collapsed.
And Chloe fell.
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