The Fall Above Manhattan
Chapter 01 - The Fall Above Manhattan
The music from the charity gala drifted faintly through the penthouse floor, twenty stories above Manhattan. Claire Bennett Cross stood beside the glass coffee table, one hand resting on her seven-month belly and the other gripping a folded document she had found inside her husband’s locked study.
Across from her, Vanessa Hale looked flawless in a burgundy dress. She had once been Adrian Cross’s fiancée, and she was still the chief operating officer of his family’s hotel empire. To the public, Vanessa was elegant, loyal, and indispensable. To Claire, she had become something far more dangerous.
“You had no right to open that file,” Vanessa said.
“It has my name on it,” Claire replied. “And my baby’s.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened. The document described a clause in the Cross family trust: when Adrian’s first child was born, control of a large block of voting shares would move out of Vanessa’s reach. Attached to it was a second page Claire had never seen—a draft petition questioning whether Adrian was the father.
Claire’s throat tightened. “You planned to use this against us.”
Vanessa stepped closer. “You walked into this family two years ago and took everything I spent my life building.”
“I didn’t take Adrian from you. He chose to leave.”
The words struck harder than Claire intended. Vanessa grabbed her wrist. Claire tried to pull away, but Vanessa shoved her with both hands.
Claire hit the carpet beside the coffee table. Pain shot through her side, and fear swallowed her breath. She curled around her belly as the baby kicked wildly.
The penthouse doors opened.
Adrian rushed in wearing a black tuxedo, his face draining of color when he saw Claire on the floor. Vanessa immediately staggered backward and pressed a hand to her cheek.
“She attacked me,” Vanessa cried. “I tried to stop her, and she threw herself down!”
Claire stared at her in disbelief. “She pushed me.”
Adrian knelt beside Claire, torn between panic and confusion. Vanessa pointed toward the ceiling.
“Check the security camera,” she demanded. “It will prove everything.”
Claire tried to sit up, but another wave of pain forced her back down. Adrian reached for her, while Vanessa quietly nudged the folded trust papers beneath the edge of the coffee table with the toe of her shoe. Claire saw it happen. Adrian did not.
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Above them, a small black lens blinked red.
Vanessa looked afraid—but only for half a second. Then she smiled.
