Chapter 3
320words
"The baby deserves better than you," I spat, tears burning behind my eyes but refusing to fall.
Something dangerous flashed in Vivienne's eyes. She pushed herself off the desk and moved with surprising speed, her manicured hands connecting with my chest in a violent shove.
"As if you'll live long enough to be a mother," she snarled, her beautiful face contorted with hatred.
For one suspended moment, I felt myself tipping, arms windmilling in the empty air. Alexander's face registered shock—not concern, just shock at Vivienne's boldness. His hand reached out, too late or not at all.
Vivienne's eyes locked with mine as I fell, her lips curving into a smile of pure malice. She mouthed two words: "Goodbye, nobody."
Then I was falling, the cold night air rushing past me. My scream died in my throat. The black water rose to meet me like an open grave.
The impact knocked the breath from my lungs. Salt water filled my mouth, bitter and cold, as I struggled to surface. The yacht's lights blurred above me as the current pulled me under. My gown, so beautiful moments ago, now wrapped around my legs like seaweed, dragging me down.
As consciousness began to fade, edges of my vision darkening, I saw a figure dive into the water. Strong arms cut through the waves, a face contorted with desperation. Felix. He'd jumped in after me.
Our fingers almost touched before a wave crashed between us, pushing me deeper into the darkness. His hand reached for mine, our fingertips inches apart yet separated by an ocean of betrayal and an eternity of what-might-have-beens.
His anguished cry followed me down: "LYRA!"
The last thing I saw was his eyes—wide with terror and something else. Something that looked impossibly like recognition, like he'd lived this nightmare before.
Then darkness claimed me.
