LOGIN[Alice's POV]We lodged against the rock. Not safely — the current was still pulling, still trying to tear us free, but the rock gave us a momentary anchor, a brief reprieve from the chaos. Adam pressed me against the rock face with his body, his arm still locked around my chest, his back to the current, taking the full force of the water on himself."I need to get the gag off," he shouted. "Alice, I need to — hold still —"His free hand came up to my face. His fingers found the edge of the tape — slick, wet, barely visible in the darkness — and he pulled. The tape came away in strips, tearing at my skin and hair. Then his fingers were in my mouth, pulling the soaked burlap free, and I retched — a violent, full-body convulsion that expelled water and fabric and bile into the river
[Alice's POV]The mercury switch had triggered. I had heard it. The circuit was closed. By every logical analysis I could perform in the two seconds between hitting the water and starting to drown, the device should have detonated on impact, or within milliseconds of the tilt switch activating. But it hadn't.The hum was gone — the electronic drone I'd felt vibrating against my sternum since the device was strapped to me stopped the moment I hit the water.Water. The water had shorted something.A connection, a relay, a pathway between the tilt switch and the detonator. The device hadn't been waterproof — or rather, it had been designed to survive rain and humidity but not full submersion, not the kind of total, violent immersion that came with falling into a
[Alice's POV]"I know about the mercury switch," he shouted.His hands were moving over the device now, his fingers tracing the casing, finding the seams, the joints, the access points."Adam's security guy has a comms link to a bomb disposal tech who's walking him through it. They're in my ear right now. I need you to stay as still as possible. Can you do that?"I stared at him. My eyes were wide, my breathing ragged through my nose, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it against the bomb casing. Every instinct in my body was screaming to move, to fight, to do something — and every instinct was also telling me that movement was death.I held still.David's fingers found
[Alice's POV]The snap I had been waiting for didn't come.Instead, there was a different sound; not the shriek of a snapping cable, but a clank. Metallic. Mechanical. Coming from above me.I opened my eyes.Someone was at the anchor point. A figure in dark clothing, helmet, tactical harness — one of the security team. He had attached a secondary cable to the winch mechanism, a thick braided steel rope that ran back to a vehicle at the edge of the bridge. A winch truck. They had brought a winch truck, and they were running a stabilization line to my anchor point, trying to arrest the drop before the original cable failed entirely.And behind the security operator, pressing forward, shoving past another team member who w
[Alice's POV]I watched him go. I watched him reach the west anchor point, grab the cable with both hands, and shout something to the security team — instructions, commands, the voice of a man who had finally, irrevocably committed. I watched him wrap the cable around his forearms and pull, his legs bracing against the railing, his whole body straining against the weight of the woman hanging below.I watched Adam.He was standing where David had been, at the center of the bridge, looking at me. His face was a ruin — the composed CEO, the controlled strategist, completely and utterly shattered. He was shouting something, but the wind took the words, and all I could see was the shape of his mouth moving, the desperation in his eyes, his hands reaching toward me across seven meters of empty bridge.
[Alice's POV]"I deserve him more than you," she shouted. "I've earned him. I've sacrificed for him. I've become what he needs. And you — you just existed, and it was enough. Just by being in the same room, just by breathing the same air, you were enough. And I hate you for it. I have hated you for it my entire life."The cable above me groaned again. Louder this time. I felt myself drop — a sudden, stomach-lurching fall of maybe ten centimeters, followed by a sickening swing as the cable oscillated. The river below seemed closer. The roar of the water seemed louder."David is coming," Lily said. "I can hear the cars reaching the bridge. And when he gets here, he's going to see exactly what I've arranged. The woman he'
[Alice’s POV]The Swiss winter wasn't just cold; it had a way of biting through you, a cruel precision that seemed to target the bones. I pulled my wool scarf tighter around my neck, trying to preserve the little heat I had managed to generate. It was a losing battle. My metabolism was burning thro
[Alice’s POV]The air on the terrace was freezing, but the tension radiating from the man approaching us was colder.Adam didn't rush. He moved with a calculated, predatory grace, his tuxedo fitting him like a suit of armor. I gripped the armrests of my wheelchair hard with both hands. My heart was
[Alice 's POV]The air in the grand ballroom was thick with the scent of lilies and chilled, expensive champagne. It was a world away from the sterile silence of the lab, a shimmering bubble of old-world wealth that felt like a fever dream.Endall stayed at my side, his hand hovering near the small
[Alice’s POV]The villa sat on the edge of the research institute’s grounds, tucked away behind a stand of ancient, snow-dusted pines. From the outside, it was all sleek glass and cold stone, but the moment Endall pushed my wheelchair across the threshold, the world changed.The air hit me first. I







