Chapter 8 - THE FALL
Elena did not fall all the way to the bottom.
Her body struck the branches of a pine tree growing from the cliff wall.
The impact tore her coat and spun her sideways.
She landed on a shelf of packed snow approximately thirty feet below the road.
Pain exploded through her back and hip.
For several seconds, she could not breathe.
Her first thought was not about herself.
“My baby.”
She pressed both hands against her stomach.
There was no movement.
Above her, Victor shouted through the wind.
“Elena?”
She stayed silent.
A flashlight moved along the cliff edge.
Victor threw a stone into the darkness and listened.
Elena covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out.
Mason’s voice drifted down.
“She’s gone.”
Victor remained at the edge.
“What if she survived?”
“No one survives that drop in this weather.”
Evelyn called from the vehicle.
“The helicopter is getting closer. Leave.”
Footsteps retreated.
Engines started.
Elena lay alone on the ledge as snow covered her dress.
She pressed the bracelet again.
This time, there was no vibration.
The impact had cracked it.
She tried to move and nearly lost consciousness.
Then the baby kicked.
It was faint.
But it was there.
Elena began crying.
“You stay with me,” she whispered. “Please stay with me.”
The helicopter sound grew louder before fading.
Cloud cover made it impossible for the crew to see her.
Elena used a broken branch to drag herself closer to the cliff wall.
She knew rescuers might follow the beacon only to the road above.
If Victor had reported her missing, perhaps they would search.
But Victor did not want her found.
Her only hope was that the original signal had lasted long enough.
Nearly forty minutes passed.
The cold entered her hands and feet.
Elena started imagining her mother’s voice.
She heard Isabel telling her to breathe.
To count.
To refuse sleep.
Then a beam of light crossed the snow.
A voice came from above.
“Rescue team! Call out!”
Elena tried to answer, but her throat produced only a whisper.
The light moved away.
Desperate, she removed her wedding ring and threw it toward the rock face.
The ring struck stone.
The tiny metallic sound was almost lost beneath the wind.
A rescuer stopped.
The beam returned.
“Elena?”
She lifted one bruised hand.
“Here.”
Major Naomi Hart leaned over the cliff edge, secured to a military rescue line.
“I see her!” she shouted. “She’s alive!”
Elena closed her eyes.
Before darkness took her, she felt someone reach her and place a gloved hand over her stomach.
“We have two heartbeats,” a medic said.
Above them, Major Hart found tire tracks leading away from the missing guardrail.
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She also found Victor’s glove lying in the snow.
👉 The mountain had preserved Elena’s life—and left behind the first physical evidence connecting Victor to the place he claimed he had never visited.
