Chapter 4 - Gasps for Salvation
The quiet of the rooftop shattered as two bodies broke violently through the surface of the water in a blinding eruption of spray.
Elena choked, coughing out a mouthful of water before pulling in a massive, ragged lungful of evening air.
"BREATHE! I'VE GOT YOU!" Maya shouted, spitting water and keeping Elena’s chin elevated with an iron forearm.
Elena’s hands clutched frantically at Maya’s wet white blouse, her fingernails digging deep into the fabric.
"My baby... God, my baby!" Elena sobbed, her voice a cracked, wheezing rasp against the cool wind.
Maya kicked steadily, towing the heavily pregnant woman toward the wide underwater steps at the pool’s shallow end.
Every movement sent ripples of warm turquoise water splashing against the polished stone coping.
Elena’s legs dragged helplessly, heavy and uncoordinated from the shock and the sudden surge of cold adrenaline.
Maya hoisted Elena’s shoulders onto the safety of the top submerged step, cradling the weeping woman against her chest.
Elena trembled violently, her soaked maternity dress clinging tightly to the enormous, round contour of her eight-month belly.
She pressed both of her shaking palms flat against her stomach, desperately waiting to feel the sacred kick of life within.
"You're okay, you're breathing, stay with me," Maya murmured fiercely, shielding Elena’s head with her own body.
Water poured in cascading sheets from their hair and clothes, pooling across the dry stone deck.
Up on the dry ledge, barely six feet away, stood Victoria, her jaw clenched in a terrifying mask of rage.
Victoria had expected to witness a silent, untraceable drowning, an unfortunate accident shrouded in rooftop chaos.
Instead, she was staring at the living, breathing evidence of her attempted double homicide.
The blonde woman's eyes flared with feral, unhinged venom as she looked down at the shivering victim on the steps.
There was no remorse in Victoria's heart, only the sudden, vicious realization that her entire plan was unraveling in plain sight.
She stepped closer to the edge of the shallow water, her black high heels clicking sharply against the wet stone.
"You should have stayed at the bottom, Elena," Victoria whispered in a voice dripping with venomous malice.
Maya looked up, her dark eyes flashing with pure protective fury as she wrapped both arms tighter around Elena.
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"Stay back from her!" Maya barked, her athletic frame tensing to absorb whatever attack was coming next.
Victoria did not back down; she raised her foot, ready to stomp them back down into the suffocating depths.
