Chapter 1
I Walked Into My Penthouse And Heard My 75-Year-Old Mother Screaming From The Rooftop Jacuzzi. My Fiancée Was Standing Over Her—And She Wasn’t Trying To Help.
The bouquet of pink tulips slipped from my hand the moment I stepped onto the terrace.
“Mom!”
My mother, Evelyn, was inside the jacuzzi, desperately gripping the glass edge.
Her soaked robe was pulling her deeper into the water.
“Please…” she gasped. “Nathaniel…”
Standing beside her was Isabella, my fiancée.
She wasn’t reaching for my mother.
She was just watching her struggle.
I ran forward and pulled Mom from the water.
She collapsed against me, coughing violently.
“What happened?”
Before Mom could answer, Isabella rushed toward us.
“She slipped!”
I looked at her.
“Then why weren’t you helping her?”
Isabella’s face went pale.
“I froze.”
My mother suddenly grabbed my wrist.
Her entire body was trembling.
“She…”
Isabella immediately interrupted.
“Evelyn is confused, Nathaniel.”
“Let her speak.”
Mom stared at Isabella with a fear I had never seen before.
“She locked the terrace door.”
My stomach dropped.
Isabella shook her head.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“And she took my phone.”
I slowly looked toward the patio table.
My mother’s phone was sitting there.
Isabella moved toward it.
I stepped in front of her.
“Don’t touch anything.”
Then I noticed something else.
The security panel beside the rooftop entrance was flashing red.
Someone had manually disabled the terrace cameras seventeen minutes earlier.
Only three people had the access code.
Me.
My mother.
And Isabella.
“Why did you turn off the cameras?”
“I didn’t.”
Then the elevator doors opened behind us.
Our building’s security manager stepped onto the terrace holding a tablet.
“Nathaniel,” he said quietly, “you need to see what was recorded before the system went offline.”
May you like
Isabella suddenly grabbed her purse.
But my mother pointed at the screen and whispered, “That’s her.”
