Chapter 4 - The Edge of the Abyss
""You always were remarkably stubborn, Elena.""
Julian’s voice was utterly devoid of human emotion, flat and cold against the whistling wind. He leaned out over the third-story balcony railing, looking down at her dangling form with the detached curiosity of a scientist observing an insect trapped in amber. His grip on her wrist was crushing, grinding bone against bone.
Elena swung her free arm, clawing desperately at his sleeve, but she was hanging entirely over the void. The sheer drop waited below, the stone patio gleaming wetly in the morning fog.
""Let me go!"" she gasped, her shoulder socket burning under the sudden strain of her full body weight.
""If I let go, you fall, darling,"" Julian replied smoothly, his dark eyes narrowing behind his horn-rimmed glasses. ""And frankly, a tragic suicide leap after an unprovoked assault on our daughter would tie up every loose end quite beautifully. The coroner's report would show toxic levels of lithium in your bloodstream. No one would question it.""
""Lily knows what you are,"" Elena snarled through gritted teeth, fighting against the black spots swarming her vision. ""She saw you holding the pillow! You can't drug away what she remembers!""
A shadow of annoyance flickered across Julian's sculpted face. ""Lily doesn't remember anything she isn't conditioned to remember. By tomorrow morning, her cognitive slate will be completely wiped clean. She will only remember her loving father, and the mother who abandoned her.""
Elena’s heart burned with pure, incandescent hatred. She looked at Julian’s face, seeing the monster who had shared her bed, who had whispered vows of eternal protection while quietly measuring her coffin. He didn't care about Lily. Lily was an asset, a proprietary test subject for the cognitive erasure therapies his firm was marketing to defense contractors.
With a sudden, violent surge of momentum, Elena didn't try to pull herself up. Instead, she drove the heel of her bare foot straight into the decorative masonry beneath the railing, kicking off the wall with all her might.
The sudden leverage caught Julian off balance. He pitched forward against the railing, his chest slamming hard against the wrought iron. His grip on her wrist slipped an inch. Elena reached up with her free hand, grabbed the sharp golden lapel pin on his suit coat—the sharp eagle crest of his corporation—and dragged it viciously across his exposed cheek.
May you like
Julian roared in pain as blood welled from the deep gash, his reflex forcing his hand open.
Elena fell.
