Chapter 3: The Miraculous Slide
BOOM!
The grand mahogany front doors of the mansion burst open with explosive force, slamming hard against the interior marble walls.
Sprinting into the foyer was thirty-two-year-old Daniel, Elena’s husband. He wore a dark grey shirt and slacks, his athletic frame covered in rain from the storm outside. He had driven from his Century City office at breakneck speeds after receiving a frantic, encrypted text from Elena warning him that his mother had uncovered the audit documents.
The moment Daniel crossed the threshold, his eyes shot upward. He took in the entire horrifying scene in a fraction of a second: the scattered white papers floating through the air, his mother standing silently on the balcony above, and his heavily pregnant wife plummeting backward toward the hard marble floor.
"NO!" Daniel roared from the absolute depths of his soul.
Without a single microsecond of hesitation, Daniel launched his body forward. His athletic instincts took over as he executed a desperate, sliding dive across the slick, polished black marble. His body skidded across the glossy surface like a runner stealing home base, his arms extending into the open space directly beneath Elena’s falling trajectory.
The timing required mathematical perfection. A fraction of a second too late, and Elena’s spine would shatter against the stone floor. A fraction of a second too early, and his arms would miss her falling center of mass.
Ten inches above the hard black marble, Elena’s body collided with Daniel’s extended arms and broad chest.
THUD!
The impact was heavy and brutal. The air flew from Daniel’s lungs as he absorbed the kinetic energy of her fall, rolling his body instantly across the floor to cradle her head and abdomen away from the floor. They skidded together across the marble, coming to a halt at the base of the grand double staircase.
The world went dead silent. The only sound in the cavernous foyer was the soft rustle of falling papers landing gently on the floor around them.
Elena gasped, her eyes flying open as she felt the warm, solid reality of her husband’s chest beneath her. She grabbed his dark grey shirt with white-knuckled intensity, her entire frame shaking violently as heavy, uncontrollable sobs broke from her throat.
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"I have you! I have you, Elena!" Daniel panted, his breath ragged, his hands frantically checking her head, her back, and her stomach. "Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"
"She... she pushed me, Daniel!" Elena sobbed heavily, her tear-streaked face buried against his neck. "Victoria took the papers... and she pushed me over the glass!"
