But fear for myself disappeared almost immediately.

I instinctively wrapped both arms around my pregnant stomach, focusing entirely on the child inside me.

“Please hold on.

Stay with me.

Don’t leave me.”

The storm intensified as snow accumulated around my body.

With every passing minute, the cold stole more of my strength until surviving for my own sake stopped mattering, because all I wanted was to keep my unborn son alive for as long as possible.

Then voices came from somewhere above me.

Michael had never left the cliff.

Even worse, someone had joined him, and when I recognized Ashley, his administrative assistant, I finally understood that their relationship had never been strictly professional.

“Did she die?”

Michael laughed softly.

“For fifty million dollars… she’d better have.”

Suddenly, everything made horrifying sense.