Chapter 1 - Eighty-Two Floors Above ManhattanVictoria Callaway placed both hands against her mother-in-law’s shoulders.
Then she pushed.
“NATHANIEL!”
Eleanor Callaway’s scream cut through the rooftop wedding like broken glass.
For one impossible second, the seventy-year-old woman balanced against the transparent barrier eighty-two floors above Manhattan.
Her burgundy gown caught the golden sunset.
Then her upper body disappeared beyond the railing.
Rose Bennett dropped her silver champagne tray.
Crystal shattered across ivory marble.
She ran.
“HELP!”
Rose reached the glass barrier as Eleanor slipped farther over the edge. She caught the back of Eleanor’s burgundy dress in both fists.
The fabric tightened.
Rose screamed from the strain.
Below them, Manhattan stretched into terrifying distance.
“Somebody help me!”
Guests froze.
A violinist stopped mid-note.
Someone screamed.
Nathaniel Callaway turned from the reception tables.
Two hours earlier he had stood beneath white roses and married Victoria Hale before three hundred guests.
Now he saw his mother hanging over the side of the building.
“Mom!”
Nathaniel ran.
Security Chief Grant Mercer was already moving.
Nathaniel reached Rose first and grabbed Eleanor beneath one arm while Grant secured her other shoulder.
“Pull!”
The three of them dragged Eleanor upward.
Her shoes struck the glass.
Her pearl necklace snapped.
White pearls scattered across the marble.
Finally Eleanor collapsed onto the terrace.
Nathaniel dropped beside her.
“Mom. Mom, look at me.”
Eleanor shook violently.
“I’m here.”
Nathaniel pulled her against him.
“I’ve got you.”
Rose sat several feet away.
Her palms were bleeding where Eleanor’s dress had burned across her skin.
Grant barked into his radio.
“Lock the rooftop. Nobody leaves.”
Then Nathaniel looked up.
Victoria stood near the railing.
Beautiful.
Pale.
Her white wedding gown moved gently in the evening wind.
Her hands were still raised.
Nathaniel stared at them.
“Victoria.”
Her eyes widened.
“Nathaniel, please.”
“What happened?”
“She lost her balance.”
Eleanor made a strangled sound.
Victoria stepped closer.
“It happened so fast.”
Nathaniel’s voice dropped.
“You were standing behind her.”
“I tried to catch her.”
Rose looked at Victoria.
That was not what she had seen.
Several guests now held smartphones.
Victoria noticed.
Fear entered her face.
“It was an accident.”
Nathaniel slowly stood.
His mother remained supported by Grant.
“An accident?”
Victoria’s lips trembled.
“Your mother was upset. She stepped backward.”
Eleanor found her voice.
“No.”
Everyone heard her.
Nathaniel turned.
Eleanor looked directly at Victoria.
“She pushed me.”
Silence swallowed the rooftop.
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Eleanor’s voice strengthened.
“She pushed me.”
“Nathaniel, she’s confused.”
“My mother knows whether someone put two hands on her.”
Victoria began crying.
“You’re choosing her over your wife?”
Nathaniel stared at her wedding ring.
Two hours.
That was how long their marriage had survived before his bride stood accused of trying to kill his mother.
Grant approached.
“Sir, NYPD is on the way.”
Victoria turned toward him.
“You called the police?”
Grant’s expression was stone.
“A woman went over a rooftop barrier.”
“I told you it was an accident.”
Rose spoke for the first time.
“It wasn’t.”
Victoria looked at her.
Rose stood despite shaking legs.
Nathaniel turned.
“What did you see?”
Rose swallowed.
“She pushed Mrs. Callaway.”
Victoria laughed in disbelief.
“You’re a server.”
Rose’s expression changed.
Not fear.
Anger.
“I have eyes.”
“You were twenty feet away.”
“I was eight.”
Nathaniel looked between them.
Victoria’s composure cracked.
“She’s lying.”
Rose said quietly, “Your hands were still in the air when Mrs. Callaway went over.”
Grant looked toward the railing.
“So were you.”
Victoria stepped backward.
“I want my attorney.”
Grant nodded.
“That would be wise.”
Paramedics arrived minutes later.
Eleanor refused to be taken away until Nathaniel stayed beside her.
Her shoulder was badly strained, her ribs bruised, but preliminary examination suggested no fractures.
Rose’s palms were bandaged.
The rooftop became a crime scene.
Officers separated witnesses.
Guests whispered.
The wedding cake remained untouched beneath crystal chandeliers.
Flowers floated in the wind.
Champagne slowly spread between fragments of Rose’s shattered glasses.
Detective Lena Torres approached Nathaniel.
“We need everyone’s statements separately.”
Nathaniel nodded.
Victoria stood across the terrace with an attorney already beside her.
How had he arrived so quickly?
Nathaniel noticed that.
So did Grant.
Before police led Eleanor toward the elevator, she grabbed Nathaniel’s wrist.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Eleanor’s voice dropped.
“She wasn’t trying to kill me because she hates me.”
Nathaniel leaned closer.
“What are you talking about?”
Eleanor glanced toward Victoria.
“She wanted something.”
“What?”
“My blue folder.”
Nathaniel frowned.
“What blue folder?”
Eleanor’s eyes became frightened in a way they had not been even while hanging above Manhattan.
“The one I brought here to give you.”
“Where is it?”
Eleanor looked toward a small burgundy clutch lying beside the railing.
Grant retrieved it.
Empty.
Eleanor whispered, “It was inside.”
Nathaniel turned toward Victoria.
She was watching them.
Her face revealed nothing.
Eleanor squeezed her son’s hand.
“I found payments, Nathaniel.”
“What payments?”
“I was going to tell you after the ceremony.”
“Tell me what?”
Eleanor’s voice trembled.
“Someone has been stealing from Callaway Holdings.”
Nathaniel stared.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who?”
Eleanor looked again toward his bride.
“I thought Victoria was helping them.”
Nathaniel felt the wedding ring on his hand suddenly become unbearably heavy.
Then Rose spoke from behind him.
“Mr. Callaway?”
Nathaniel turned.
She was holding something.
A torn corner of blue cardboard.
Rose had found it beneath the hem of Victoria’s wedding gown.
And written across the fragment in Eleanor’s handwriting were three words:
ADRIAN CROSS — TRANSFERS.
Nathaniel knew the name.
Everyone in his company did.
Adrian Cross was Callaway Holdings’ chief financial officer.
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