Chapter 1 - THE PUSH

Eleanor’s hand struck my shoulder before anyone understood what she was doing.

“You should never have come back here,” she hissed.

Then the marble disappeared beneath my feet.

I fell backward from the top of the grand staircase as two hundred guests watched.

Someone screamed.

“Oh my God, she pushed her!”

My fingers caught the brass railing for half a second, but Eleanor tore them free. My body twisted. The chandelier above me became a blur of white light.

Then strong arms closed around me.

“I’ve got you,” Ethan said.

He had launched himself across the lower landing and caught me before my head hit the stone. The impact drove him to one knee, but he kept one arm behind my shoulders and the other around my waist.

I tried to breathe.

Nothing came.

“Claire, look at me.”

“Ethan…”

“I’ve got you. Stay with me.”

The ballroom had gone silent except for the orchestra’s final broken note. Champagne glasses trembled in raised hands. A maid named Rosa rushed forward, pressing both palms over her mouth.

Eleanor stood at the top of the stairs in a silver gown, one hand resting calmly on the railing.

“She slipped,” she said.

A guest near the staircase shook his head. “No. I saw you push her.”

Ethan looked up at Eleanor, and something cold entered his face.

“Call the police.”

That sentence shattered the room.

Eleanor’s husband, my uncle Victor, pushed through the guests. “There will be no police in this house.”

Ethan did not look at him.

“Call them now.”

Rosa grabbed the phone from the hall table.

Victor caught her wrist. “Put that down.”

I finally pulled in a thin breath. Pain burned along my ribs, but I forced myself upright.

“I came here because my father left me a message,” I said.

Eleanor’s eyes flickered.

Victor released Rosa.

“What message?” Ethan asked.

I reached inside my coat and removed a small brass key.

“My father said if anything happened to him, this key would explain everything.”

Eleanor descended one step.

“That belongs to me.”

“No,” I said. “It was hidden inside his watch.”

Her face lost its color.

Ethan helped me stand. “Where does the key go?”

Before I could answer, every light in Hawthorne Manor went out.

In the darkness, someone grabbed my hand.

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