Chapter 1 - THE GRAVITY OF VENGEANCEThe screech of tearing metal echoed off the jagged canyon walls, drowning out the roar of the crashing waves hundreds of feet below.
Gravity is an unforgiving math. With the final anchor rope severed by Victoria’s blade, the battered sedan tilted past the point of no return, tipping its nose toward the abyss. Daniel felt his boots slide across the loose gravel and shale of the cliff edge, his muscles screaming as the immense weight of the falling vehicle threatened to drag him into the dark, churning ocean.
Inside the hanging wreck, Elena clutched their six-month-old daughter, Lily, tighter against her chest than life itself. The air inside the cabin was thin, cold, and heavy with the smell of leaking gasoline.
"Daniel! Let go!" Elena screamed, her voice cracking through the shattered windshield as tears mixed with the cold sea spray blowing up from below. "Lily is safe in my arms, but you—you can’t save us both! The weight is pulling you over!"
Daniel’s fingers were locked around her wrist with a desperate, white-knuckled grip. Veins bulged in his neck, and blood from a forehead gash dripped steadily down his brow, stinging his eyes.
"I didn't spend five years searching for you just to watch you fall!" Daniel roared back, his voice cutting through the wind. "Look at me, Elena! I’m not letting go! Not today. Not ever!"
Ten feet away, parked safely on solid ground, Victoria Vance sat behind the steering wheel of her heavy-duty black SUV. Her cold, calculated eyes stared through the cracked windshield at the horrifying scene unfolding before her. There was no remorse on her face—only a twisted sense of triumph, a final act of greed designed to secure her absolute control over the multi-billion-dollar Vance family empire.
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"Foolish boy," Victoria muttered to herself, her fingers drumming against the leather steering wheel. "If you want to die with a peasant and a bastard child, be my guest."
With a sharp shift of her gear stick, Victoria slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The heavy SUV lurched forward, its steel bumper aimed squarely at Daniel’s back, ready to deliver the final, crushing blow that would send husband, wife, and child into the watery grave below.
