Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN AT THE RAILING
Victoria Blackwood seized Emily Carter by the upper arm so hard that her pale-blue dress twisted against her pregnant belly. Beyond the penthouse balcony, Manhattan glittered as though nothing terrible could happen above its streets.
“CALL YOUR HUSBAND! NOW!” Victoria snapped. The compact black handgun in her other hand rose beside Emily’s cheek. Its cold silhouette swallowed the warm reflection of the gala lights.
Emily stumbled against the stone railing. Seven months pregnant, she caught herself with one hand and covered her belly with the other. Her phone nearly slipped from fingers too frightened to close.
Inside, a string quartet played a bright, expensive melody. Laughter floated past the sliding glass door, blurred by music and the city’s endless hum. Nobody had heard Victoria’s threat.
“Daniel won’t come alone,” Emily whispered. She was trying to gain seconds, not argue. Each breath scraped through her throat while she calculated the distance to the doorway.
Victoria’s diamond earrings flashed as she leaned closer. “He will if you tell him his wife and baby have no time left.” Her voice remained almost conversational, which frightened Emily most.
For three months, Victoria had dressed as a benefactor at charity dinners, smiled for photographers, and praised the Carter family. Now the gracious woman had vanished, leaving something polished and merciless.
Emily’s phone brightened beneath her thumb. Daniel’s name filled the screen. She did not press call. A memory struck her instead: Daniel warning her never to stand near a closed exit at a crowded event.
Victoria caught that tiny hesitation. She yanked Emily nearer to the railing, sending a sharp jolt through her shoulder. Emily made a small sound and curled protectively around her unborn daughter.
“Do not make me repeat myself.” Victoria angled the weapon toward Emily’s face. There was no theatrical flourish, no trembling hand. She seemed practiced at turning fear into obedience.
Emily pressed call. It rang once, then stopped. Not because Daniel answered. The sliding door slammed against its stopper, and a man in a black tuxedo burst onto the balcony.
Daniel Carter had been outside the room, not outside her life. His eyes took in the handgun, Emily’s twisted sleeve, and the railing behind her in one brutal instant.
He lunged before Victoria could turn fully. His arm closed around Emily’s shoulders and drew her sideways, putting his body between her belly and the weapon without sending her stumbling toward the edge.
“GET AWAY FROM MY WIFE!” he shouted. His voice cut through the music. Emily felt his hand briefly steady her back, then push her toward the open doorway.
Victoria swung the handgun sideways toward his face. She struck first, viciously, the motion fast enough to whistle. Daniel ducked, feeling the rush of air across his hair.
The missed blow pulled Victoria off balance. Daniel pivoted and shoved her upper body away from Emily, directing her toward a tempered-glass divider beside the entrance rather than toward the balcony railing.
Her shoulder struck the divider. Glass shattered in a roaring silver wave. Victoria fell onto the interior terrace floor, away from the drop, and the handgun skidded across marble under a narrow console.
For half a second, everything stopped except Emily’s breathing. Daniel stood rigid among glittering fragments, his hands open. Victoria stared upward, dazed by a resistance she had not anticipated.
Then something small slipped from her right ear. A black wireless earpiece bounced once, twice, and came to rest against a splinter of glass. Its indicator flashed blue.
A man’s voice hissed through the tiny speaker, amplified by the abrupt silence. “Victoria failed. Send the next one.” The voice was calm enough to sound like an office instruction.
Daniel looked down at the earpiece. Victoria did too. For the first time that evening, terror moved across the crime boss’s face, deeper than surprise or humiliation.
Emily recognized the expression. It belonged to a woman who had just learned that she, too, was disposable. Behind the doorway, the gala music stopped midphrase.
“Emily,” Daniel said without turning, “go inside and find a locked room.” He sounded steady, but she could see how carefully he held himself, as though another blow might come.
“I’m not leaving you.” The words rose automatically. Yet a hard tightening crossed her abdomen, and she placed both hands there until it eased. The baby moved beneath her palms.
Daniel heard the catch in her voice. His posture changed immediately. “Then stay behind the door. Keep looking at me. We leave together.” He backed toward her, guarding the fallen handgun.
Victoria pushed herself onto one elbow. “You don’t understand,” she said. Her glittering earrings were tangled in her dark hair. “He won’t stop with me.”
“Who?” Daniel demanded. Victoria stared at the earpiece instead of answering. Her mouth opened, then closed as though somebody miles away might still be listening.
From the lounge came a sharp electronic chirp. The sound belonged to the penthouse security system, not the orchestra. Daniel knew the building well enough to recognize an access override.
Emily saw a change in the lighting above the entrance. One by one, the decorative wall sconces dimmed while the emergency floor strips remained lit. Somebody controlled the penthouse remotely.
A suited man appeared beyond the glass, weaving through the suddenly restless guests. He wore a discreet silver pin shaped like an eight-pointed compass and watched the balcony instead of the commotion.
Emily had seen that pin earlier. The same man had smiled while personally checking the guests’ invitations. He had also insisted that her security escort wait downstairs.
She stepped back from the threshold and quietly unlocked her phone. Its emergency recording shortcut was already on the screen. Daniel had shown her how to use it after an anonymous threat last week.
The man in the lounge lifted a hand to his own ear. Across the marble, Victoria whispered one name that reached Emily more clearly than the city below: “Voss.” She knew the suited stranger, and that knowledge frightened her.
May you like
The man’s eyes narrowed. He began walking toward the balcony doorway, while behind him the penthouse doors locked with a heavy, simultaneous click. Emily pressed record and felt the phone vibrate once.
Daniel shifted between both women and the approaching man. He had stopped the first attack. Now the person behind it was sending another, and the glass on the floor was only the beginning.
