Chapter 3: The Weightless Descent
Chapter 3: The Weightless Descent
The tracking of her fall felt completely weightless, a terrifying descent past the sweeping tiers of the grand spiral staircase. Sunlight from the high arched windows cut through the vast room, catching the thousands of tiny sequins on Victoria’s white dress, causing her to shimmer like a falling star against the dark wood and white marble of the mansion’s interior.
The air movement rippled the delicate fabric of her dress, the wind whistling loudly in her ears as the ground floor below stretched out like a cold, white modern tomb. It was a drop of twenty-five feet, an expanse of empty space that felt infinite yet brutally short.
Victoria didn't scream. The sheer shock of the betrayal and the sudden weightlessness had locked her vocal cords, leaving her in a state of quiet, numbing terror. Her hands, abandoning the legal document, instinctively curled tightly over her pregnant belly. She tucked her elbows inward, turning her body slightly in mid-air, attempting to position her shoulder to take the brunt of the impact. Every maternal instinct in her body screamed to shield the fragile, growing life inside her from the impending stone floor.
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She looked upward as she fell, her vision blurring as she saw the distant silhouette of Charlotte standing at the balcony railing. Her sister-in-law looked small, dark hair pulled tight, staring down like a ghost watching the execution of a sentence she had pulled the trigger on.
The massive crystal chandeliers glinted in her peripheral vision, their sharp, beautiful light fracturing into a thousand pieces of scattered rainbow across the white walls. It was a beautiful room to die in, Victoria thought briefly, a cold numbness spreading from her fingers to her chest. She closed her eyes, holding her breath, praying with every ounce of her remaining consciousness that her babies would survive the impact, even if she didn't.
