They say love makes you blind, but in my case, it almost made me and my unborn child dead.
When I met Victor Hale, I thought I had found the one. I wanted a simple, honest life, free from the suffocating politics of my family’s massive wealth.
My father is the CEO of a global insurance empire, a billionaire whose name commands absolute fear and respect in the corporate world. But when I married Victor, I used my mother’s maiden name and told him I came from a modest, working-class background. I wanted to be certain that the man I chose loved me for my heart, not my father’s bank account.
For three years, I thought I had succeeded. We lived in a cozy suburban home, and when I got pregnant, I thought our lives were perfect.
I was completely wrong. Victor didn’t want a simple life; he wanted an effortless fortune. And he found a deeply sickening way to get it.
It happened during a relentless winter storm. I was nine months pregnant, experiencing mild Braxton Hicks contractions, and feeling incredibly vulnerable.
Victor insisted that we take a drive up to Blackthorn Mountain to “clear my head and see the snow.” The higher we climbed, the worse the blizzard became. The wind was howling, rattling our SUV, and visibility was practically zero. I was terrified. I clutched my belly, begging Victor to turn the car around and take me home. He just gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, staring forward with a cold, vacant look I had never seen before.
Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes right at the edge of Blackthorn Cliff, a notorious drop-off known for its lethal heights and jagged rocks. Before I could even process why we were stopping, Victor walked around to the passenger side, tore the door open, and unbuckled my seatbelt.
He dragged me out into the biting, freezing air. I was slipping on the ice, crying, asking him what he was doing.
He didn’t answer. He just looked at me with a terrifying, empty smirk. With one violent, unceremonious heave, he shoved my nine-month-pregnant body right off the edge of the icy cliff.
