NOW YOU’LL DIE WITH HER

Emma struck the water on her back and sank.

Shock stole her breath.

The pale-blue dress expanded around her, slowing her movement as she tried to reach the surface. Before she could rise, the chain tightened around her ankle.

The breakaway cuff had closed during the fall.

Emma pulled at it.

The release tab would not move.

Margaret had altered it.

Above the water, distorted figures moved across the terrace.

Charles struggled with the guard. Margaret stood at the edge, looking down.

Emma tried to lift herself, but the chain held her near the statue.

Her lungs began to burn.

Then a shape entered the pool.

Daniel.

He had not followed Margaret’s false message.

The message had contained a mistake.

Emma always called the road beside Bellweather Villa the service road. Margaret had written north road, the name used only on the original property plans.

Daniel recognized his mother’s language and turned back.

When he reached the gates, federal investigators were already attempting to enter. Marcus had escaped the security office by triggering a fire alarm, restoring the microphone for seven seconds before Margaret’s guard disabled it again.

Seven seconds had been enough.

The investigators heard Charles admit that the car had been altered.

Daniel climbed the villa wall while officers forced the gate.

He reached the terrace as Emma fell.

Now he swam toward her, following the chain to the statue.

Emma touched his face.

Daniel tried the cuff. It remained locked.

He returned to the surface.

Margaret was waiting beside the edge.

“Give me the key!” he shouted.

She held it between two fingers.

Behind her, Charles broke free from the guard. Before he could reach Margaret, the guard dragged him down again.

Daniel extended his hand.

“Mother, please.”

The word pleased her.

For a moment, she appeared almost gentle.

“You chose her,” Margaret said.

“She is my wife.”

“I gave you everything.”

“You took everything.”

Margaret looked toward the struggling shapes beneath the water.

“Then join her.”

She released the key.

It fell through the metal drainage grate beside her shoe.

Daniel stared at the empty space where it had been.

Margaret pressed the remote.

The automatic cover began sliding across the pool.

Daniel took one breath and dived.

By the time he reached Emma, the shadow of the cover had crossed half the water.

He pulled the chain again.

Nothing.

Emma’s movements had become slow.

Daniel held her against him and looked upward. The remaining daylight narrowed.

He could leave her long enough to breathe.

He could return to the surface and search for another tool.

He could survive.

Instead, he wrapped his arm around her chest and stayed.

Emma opened her eyes.

She pointed toward the statue’s base.

The compass symbol.

Daniel remembered the blueprints.

He struck the maintenance plate until it opened, found the hidden lever and released the chain from the statue.

The cover stopped for one second.

Marcus had regained access to the emergency controls.

Daniel pushed Emma upward, but Margaret overrode the system and restarted the cover.

They reached the last opening as it narrowed above them.

Emma gasped once.

The cover closed.

Darkness filled the pool.

On the terrace, Margaret stepped back from the water.

The federal officers finally entered through the villa.

“Turn it off!” Charles shouted.

Margaret dropped the remote and placed both hands in the air.

“The system malfunctioned,” she said calmly. “My son and his wife entered the pool.”

Marcus ran toward the control panel.

The guard tried to stop him, but an officer forced the guard to the ground.

Marcus entered the emergency code.

Nothing happened.

“Manual override!” he shouted. “Inside the west wall!”

An officer smashed the glass cover protecting the power switch.

The pool cover began retracting.

Daniel’s head broke the surface first.

He was still holding Emma.

Safety divers entered the water. Together, they lifted her onto the terrace.

Daniel climbed out beside her.

Emma was conscious but barely responsive. She coughed, drew a strained breath and placed both hands over her stomach.

“Please,” she whispered. “The baby.”

Paramedics moved around her.

Daniel knelt beside her, soaked and shaking.

One paramedic checked Emma’s pulse while another provided oxygen.

After what felt like an entire lifetime, the lead paramedic looked at Daniel.

“She’s breathing. We’re taking her to the hospital now.”

“And the baby?”

“We need to examine them both.”

Daniel held Emma’s hand as they placed her on the stretcher.

Margaret watched from across the terrace while an officer secured her wrists.

“This is unnecessary,” she said. “It was an accident.”

Charles laughed bitterly from where he sat beneath the supervision of another officer.

“No,” he said. “This is the first honest thing that has happened in this family for years.”

An investigator approached Marcus.

“Do you have the memory card?”

Marcus reached into the inner pocket of his jacket.

“Yes.”

Margaret’s confidence vanished.

Marcus handed the card to the investigator.

“It contains Richard Whitmore’s final recording.”

The investigator placed it in an evidence container.

Margaret turned toward Daniel.

“Tell them,” she said. “Tell them I would never hurt you.”

Daniel looked at his mother.

For years, he had wanted her approval. He had confused her control with strength and her coldness with discipline. Even after learning what she had done, part of him had searched for the woman who had once held his hand on his first day of school.

He finally understood that memory could not excuse reality.

“You didn’t hurt me,” he said.

Margaret lifted her chin.

Then Daniel looked toward Emma’s stretcher.