He Made Me Jump While Carrying Our TwinsChapter 1

The ropes had long since left angry marks on my wrists, the chill of the balcony wind biting through my thin nightgown like tiny knives. My body trembled—not from cold, but from the weight of fear pressing into my chest. The towering skyline stretched endlessly below, a dizzying drop from the 65th floor.

I’d never feared pain. Never flinched at loneliness. But standing this close to the edge, strapped to a chair with my nine-month-pregnant belly exposed to the elements, my terror was absolute.

Heights.

They’d always been my undoing.

Now they were his weapon.

Lucien’s voice crackled from the phone speaker on the ground beside me, cold and sharp, thick with cruelty.

“She really thinks I’m going to feed her just because she skipped meals for a few days?” His tone dripped with contempt. “She’s not going to die sitting out there. It’s just the balcony, for god’s sake.”

I didn’t need to open my eyes to know he was talking about me. I knew his voice—knew every cruel edge it had taken on lately.

My lungs stung with every breath. My baby kicked, restless, and I could only hope the child didn’t feel what I felt. Despair. Exhaustion.