Chapter 6 - THE FALL
The descent lasted less than three seconds, but to Mara, every microsecond stretched into an eternity.
She remembered Detective Moreno's voice from a self-defense seminar she had attended years ago for work: If you fall, protect your head and core. Roll.
Instinct took over.
Mara twisted her body mid-air, curling her arms tightly around her pregnant belly, tucking her chin flat against her chest.
Her shoulder slammed violently into the seventh step.
Pain exploded through her upper back.
She bounced off the carpeted runner, her hip cracking hard against the edge of the eighth step, before her body tumbled out of control down the remaining stairs.
One. Two. Three.
Her body crashed onto the cold, hard white marble landing at the base of the grand staircase.
The impact knocked every drop of air from her lungs.
A sharp, white-hot flash of agony flared through her right leg and lower spine.
Then came the silence.
The absolute, deafening silence of the grand entrance hall.
Mara lay on her right side, her cheek pressed against the freezing marble floor. Her arms were still locked fiercely around her stomach, protecting Oliver with every ounce of strength left in her body.
She didn't move. She couldn't move.
She felt the baby kick inside her—a sudden, sharp, indignant flutter.
He's alive.
Relief rushed through her so intensely she almost wept.
Above her, the frantic sound of heels clattering down the steps echoed through the hall.
"Oh my God," Celeste's voice rang out from the stairs.
Mara kept her eyes closed, holding her breath, forcing her muscles to remain completely limp.
Celeste reached the bottom step and stopped several feet away, her breathing ragged and terrified.
"Mara?"
Mara didn't answer.
"Mara, can you hear me?"
Silence.
Footsteps hurried down behind Celeste. Evelyn reached the landing, gasping as she saw Mara lying motionless on the floor.
"What happened?!" Evelyn cried out, her voice trembling with horror.
"I don't know!" Celeste shrieked, her voice instantly shifting into a pitch of practiced hysteria.
"You were standing right next to her!"
"She came at me!" Celeste lied without hesitation. "She was furious! She was yelling at me about the foundation, and then she rushed toward me! I put my hands out because I thought she was going to knock me over!"
Evelyn took another step down. "Mara?"
Celeste squeezed out a broken, shuddering sob. "I didn't mean for her to fall! She lost her balance and fell backward!"
Lying on the floor, Mara felt her phone shifting beneath her cardigan.
The call to Detective Moreno had connected.
She slid her fingers quietly toward her cheek, pressing her mouth against the fabric covering the microphone.
"Detective Moreno," Mara whispered, her voice barely a thread of sound. "The evidence is ready."
Through the thin fabric, Moreno's voice replied, crisp and immediate: "We're on our way."
May you like
Mara cut the call, slid her phone back beneath her body, and closed her eyes completely.
The trap was sprung.
