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The world tilted. Caleb screamed. My hand tightened around his, but the ground vanished beneath us. Rocks tore at my arms. Branches cracked against my face. Then everything went black.
When I regained consciousness, pain swallowed me whole.
I was lying on a narrow ledge below the trail, hidden by thick shrubs. My ribs burned. Blood ran into one eye. Caleb was beside me, frighteningly still, his little body curled against my coat.
I tried to speak, but no sound came.Then I heard voices above.
Daniel.
Vanessa.
“She’s not moving,” Vanessa said.
My blood turned cold.
Daniel’s voice shook. “Caleb?”
Vanessa snapped, “Forget him. If the boy is gone too, it looks like an accident. If he lives, he talks.”
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I stopped breathing.
That was when fear took hold of me so completely that I chose to lie there and pretend I was dead.
Because in that moment, I understood the fall had not been an accident.
Vanessa had pushed us.
And my son knew.
A rock slipped from above. Footsteps moved closer to the edge.
Daniel whispered, “Mom?”I wanted to answer. God help me, I wanted to scream his name and beg him to save his child.
But Vanessa spoke first.
“Daniel, listen to me. Your mother changed her will. You said it yourself. Everything goes to the boy now. If she survives, we lose the house, the company shares, everything.”
My heart broke so violently I almost moved.
Then Caleb made the smallest sound.
A whimper.
Vanessa went silent.
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And above us, my son whispered, “He’s alive.”
Part 2 — The Choice on the Ledge
Caleb’s eyes fluttered open.
I pressed one shaking finger gently against his lips.
He was too young to understand, but fear understood for him. His tiny body trembled, yet he stayed silent.Above us, Vanessa said, “Go down there.”