Just because of one word from his little assistant, the entire company's team-building event was changed to an extreme Via Ferrata cliff-climbing course. But I was eight months pregnant. I had just started bleeding, and the doctor had strictly ordered me to stay in bed to save my baby. I held my husband Marcus's hand, begging him to let me stay at the hotel instead of climbing. Before Marcus could even speak, his assistant, Chloe, smiled and cut in: "Sera, you're not looking down on us, are you? It's just a team-building event, but you refuse to join. Do you always have to be so special?" "It's just climbing a cliff. It's not like we're asking you to give birth right there." The conference room burst into laughter. Marcus's face darkened. "If everyone else can go, why can't you?" Furious, I yelled back at him, "I am carrying your child! Do you want me to risk his life just to show off for your company?" Stunned by my outburst, he quickly changed his tune, telling me I could just rest at the hotel. But the next morning, when I opened my eyes, I found myself tied to a sheer cliff face. Looking down, there was only a bottomless abyss. The safety rope on my harness was just a flimsy, single-line cord. As I reached for my phone to call for help, Chloe's voice drifted down from right above me: "Hang in there, Sera! Marcus personally chose the safest route for you. No one else even got the chance! Don't let his hard work go to waste!" Looking at the helicopter hovering in the sky above, I was about to scream curses at them. But what Marcus said next made my blood run dead cold. "Sera, stop using the baby in your belly to threaten me. Because that bastard isn't even mine."
I thought I had heard him wrong. "What did you just say?" I stared at the helicopter hovering in mid-air, my voice shattered by the howling wind. Marcus held a megaphone, a vicious, cold sneer plastered across his face. "Are you deaf? I said the bastard in your womb isn't mine!" "Ever since I met Chloe, I haven't touched you once in the past year!" My brain exploded. Memories of the dark nights over the past year flashed through my mind. Marcus always lit a strange, fragrant incense in the bedroom. He always blindfolded me with a black cloth, claiming it was to add some excitement to our marriage. And I, like an idiot, actually believed his lies! "You sick bastards!" I screamed with every ounce of strength left in my lungs. Chloe leaned half her body out of the helicopter, holding a megaphone and laughing hysterically. "Don't be so angry, Sera. The old man's will has already been signed anyway." "Marcus has officially inherited the family fortune now. You and that bastard in your belly are completely useless to us." With that, she threw a plastic water bottle right at me. The bottle slammed hard against my forehead, making my vision spin with bright stars. I gripped the rusted iron rungs on the cliff face, the agonizing pain in my abdomen ripping through me in waves. Warm blood had already soaked through my hiking pants, dripping down my legs. "Marcus, I was your wife for three years!" I screamed in utter despair. "Even if you want a divorce, you don't have to kill me!" Marcus looked down at me with nothing but disgust and sheer hatred. "If you don't die, how am I supposed to collect the $80 million accidental death insurance policy?" "Besides, Chloe is pregnant now. We need to clear away any obstacles for our true love." I froze, staring in shock at Chloe's slightly bloated belly. My heart died completely. This was the man for whom I had abandoned my career and my family. He was a heartless, greedy piece of trash who had absolutely no limits! Just then, a few colleagues from the company climbed up from the route below. Each of them was equipped with heavy-duty double safety ropes and professional helmets. "Oh, look, isn't that Sera?" Leo from the sales department yelled. "Why is her pants covered in blood? Did she wet herself on the cliff?" Ross, the HR manager, gripped the rock with one hand and laughed out loud. "Wetting herself? No way. She probably splashed fake blood on herself to play the victim!" "Don't you see the boss watching from the helicopter? She's definitely putting on a show to get sympathy." Another female colleague pulled out her phone and aimed it straight at me. "Sera, smile for the camera! Let everyone see how you're dragging the team down." Enduring the agonizing spasms in my abdomen, I screamed to them for help. "Help me! My safety rope is only a single line! It's about to snap!" "My baby... I'm losing my baby! I'm having a miscarriage!"
Manager Ross rolled his eyes dramatically. "Just shut up already. Chloe already warned us about you." "She said you hired a prop master to make a fake blood pack just to ruin our team-building trip." "We're not falling for your tricks!" One by one, they climbed right past me, stepping ruthlessly on the iron rungs right next to my fingers. Leo even went out of his way to kick my ankle with his heavy hiking boot. My foot slipped. My entire body weight slammed instantly onto that single, flimsy safety rope. Rrrriiiip. A terrifying tearing sound echoed from the harness around my waist. The cheap safety rope had ripped one-third of the way through! My body plummeted violently, leaving me dangling in the empty air against the sheer cliff face. Directly beneath me was a bottomless abyss filled with sharp, jagged rocks. "Ah!" I shrieked in absolute terror. The blood from my thighs flowed faster now, dripping directly onto Leo's face below. Leo wiped his face in disgust, cursing under his breath. "Gross! This fake blood smells so real. You really spent a fortune on this, didn't you?" He didn't lift a finger to help me. Instead, he climbed up even faster to get away. Up on the helicopter, Chloe clapped her hands in excitement. "Wow! Bungee jumping! Marcus, look! Sera is about to do a rope-free bungee jump!" Marcus sneered and picked up the megaphone again. "Sera, if you jump down now, I'll be nice enough to buy you a high-end grave." "But if you keep wasting everyone's time like this, I'll dump your ashes straight into the sewer." The pain in my abdomen was so intense that I was on the verge of losing consciousness. I could feel it clearly—the baby I had tried so hard to protect for eight months was dying inside me. Using the last bit of my strength, I raised my left hand and pressed a hidden red button on the side of my smartwatch. It was a military-grade emergency channel my brother had personally set up for me three years ago. "Tristan..." I whispered weakly into the watch. "Lock down the airspace. Immediately." "I'm dying. Make all of them pay with their lives." Chloe saw my movement through her binoculars and laughed so hard she cried. "Marcus, look at her! She's talking to a stupid watch! Has she gone completely insane from fear?" Marcus's face was filled with mockery. "She's always been crazy. Her whole family is just a bunch of penniless nobodies from some backwater town." "Who is she even calling for help? The mayor of her little village?" Hysterical laughter erupted from the helicopter cabin. The walkie-talkies of the colleagues on the cliff broadcasted Marcus's mockery in real-time. Everyone on the cliff was laughing at me. "She thought she hit the jackpot by marrying the boss, acting so high and mighty in the office." "Now karma's finally catching up to her. She deserves it!" I bit my lower lip hard, completely ignoring their venomous insults. Only I knew the truth about my family. My grandfather was a highly respected four-star General. My father was a Wall Street billionaire tycoon. And my brother was the Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Three years ago, for the sake of what I thought was true love, I hid my identity and married Marcus. I didn't hesitate to cut ties with my family, enduring endless hardships during these three years. Now, I finally saw this devil's den for what it truly was!
"What's the point of calling your town mayor?" Chloe was practically falling over laughing inside the helicopter. She pointed at the military smartwatch on my wrist. "Which flea market did you buy that second-hand trash from?" "Do you really think there's cell service out here in the mountains to call your little helpers?" Marcus bellowed through the megaphone in agreement. "Sera, even your bluffing is pathetic." "Is that brother of yours still carrying bricks at some construction site?" "If he actually shows up to save you today, I'll jump out of this helicopter myself!" The helicopter's massive rotors whipped up violent gusts of wind. The wind tangled my hair across my face. My face was covered in cold sweat and tears of despair. I stared cold-hard at the man in the designer suit hovering in the air. That $10,000 custom suit he was wearing was bought with my own secret savings. I remembered a rainy night three years ago. Marcus had knelt outside my apartment door, completely stripped of his dignity. Soaked to the bone, he clung to my legs and swore an oath. "Sera, I might be poor right now, but I swear I will never let you suffer. Not even a little bit." "If anyone dares to touch a single hair on your head, I'll fight them to the death!" "I am going to make you the happiest woman in the world!" Those were his exact words. And for those cheap, worthless promises, I had blocked my entire family's contact numbers without hesitation. I willingly lived in a damp, dark basement with him, eating the cheapest instant noodles. I stayed up all night writing business proposals for him, bringing him clients and resources. In just three years, I dragged him up from a low-level salesman to the CEO of his own company. But everything changed six months ago when Chloe joined the company. Chloe drove a luxury car to work. She flaunted her new designer bags every single day. She dropped constant hints to everyone that she was the daughter of a wealthy tycoon. Marcus's eyes grew greedier every time he looked at her. He started finding excuses to stay out all night. He began complaining that I didn't know how to dress, mocking me for smelling like a "poor nobody." I thought he was just letting his fast success get to his head. I never imagined he had already hopped into bed with Chloe, let alone that they were plotting my death! "Marcus! What did I ever do to deserve this?!" I screamed into the sky with everything I had. "I suffered with you! I built your company with you!" "Why do you have to kill me in such a cruel way?!" Hearing my accusation, Marcus's face turned incredibly dark. He sneered in disgust from the helicopter. "You helped me build the company?" "You're a penniless girl who couldn't even afford college tuition! What could you possibly do to help me?" "If Chloe's father hadn't promised to invest $50 million in my company, I would have been dragged down by you for the rest of my life!" Chloe proudly stroked her slightly rounded belly. She looked down at me with supreme contempt. "Sera, you need to know your place." "Marcus is a multi-millionaire CEO now. You don't belong in his world." "Only the noble bloodline in my belly is fit to inherit the Vance family fortune." I felt my stomach churn violently. Blood was still dripping down my legs. My inner thighs were completely numb. The eight-month-old baby in my womb had gone completely still. It was the little life I had cherished and looked forward to for eight long months. Now, it was just a cold, lifeless soul. Seeing that I had stopped struggling, the colleagues below climbed up even more aggressively. Ross, the HR manager, pulled out a crumpled document. Holding onto his safety rope with one hand, he slapped the document hard against my leg. "Sera, stop being so stubborn." "The boss just said that if you sign over all your founder shares in the company for free," "He'll show some mercy and let the rescue team pull you up." I looked down at the stock transfer agreement covered in my own blood. Finally, I understood Marcus's entire master plan. Not only did he want to steal my $80 million insurance money. He wanted to completely swallow the very company I had secretly built for him from the ground up!
"In your dreams!" I spat, biting my lip so hard that blood sprayed onto the paper. "I would rather die than let you disgusting parasites get a single penny!" Marcus completely lost his patience. He shoved the pilot aside and grabbed the helicopter's controls. The helicopter suddenly dipped, diving dangerously close to the cliff where I hung. The massive downdraft from the rotors instantly created a violent storm. The single safety line holding me began to rip apart under the immense strain. "Since you want to play the hero, then go die with your worthless pride!" Marcus roared through the megaphone. "Leo! Help our dear Director Sera on her way!" "Once it's done, the Vice President position is yours!" Hearing those words, Leo's eyes lit up with absolute greed. Without a second thought, he unclipped his backup safety hook. Using the iron rungs, he climbed rapidly until he was directly beneath me. He reached up and grabbed my dangling right foot with both hands. "Sorry, Sera!" Leo screamed, his face twisted in a monstrous grin. "But you're standing in the way of my promotion! Just drop already!" He pulled down on my leg with all his might. My body was yanked violently downward by the force. At last, the safety rope around my waist gave its final, sharp snap. Snap! The cheap nylon rope broke completely in two. My body lost all support, plunging straight down toward the rocky abyss. "Ah!" I screamed as the sensation of weightlessness instantly swallowed me. But in the very next second of my rapid fall, My ten fingers clawed desperately at a sharp, protruding rock edge on the cliff. The massive force of my fall instantly tore the muscles in my shoulders. The agonizing pain of dislocating both shoulders almost made me black out. Below me was the endless, rocky void. I was hanging on by nothing but ten bloody fingers, clinging desperately to the edge of the cliff. "Oh my, this street dog just refuses to die!" Chloe shrieked in frustration from the helicopter. She turned around and grabbed a baseball bat from the cabin. "Marcus, get the helicopter closer!" "I want to knock her down myself!" Without hesitation, Marcus maneuvered the helicopter closer to me. The landing gear was almost touching the top of my head. Chloe leaned halfway out of the cabin. She raised the baseball bat, aiming straight at my hands gripping the rock. "In your next life, remember to keep your eyes open! Don't touch things that don't belong to you." She brought the bat down hard onto my left hand. Crack! The skin on my left hand split instantly, exposing white bone underneath. My entire body convulsed in pure agony, leaving only my right hand to hold the entire weight of my body. A few meters above, Leo laughed mockingly. "Sera! Weren't you always so capable at the office?" "Why don't you call your little town mayor brother again?!" Manager Ross joined in on the mockery. "Her phone fell down the cliff. How is she going to call anyone?" "Maybe her brother is eating scraps under some bridge right now!" Before their laughter could fade, My smartwatch vibrated gently against my wrist. I looked up at the sky. Exactly one hundred and eighty seconds had passed since I pressed the emergency button. My brother had told me once: The moment I press that red button, The entire Special Operations Command would arrive, fully armed, within three minutes. Suddenly, a deep, deafening rumble echoed through the sky like thunder. Marcus looked up, confused. Chloe stopped swinging the bat. On the cliff, every single colleague looked up at the sky in unison. In the next second, the entire sky over the mountain range went dark. The sun was completely blocked out. Twenty pitch-black, heavy-duty military attack helicopters ripped through the clouds like a tidal wave of black steel! The terrifying downdraft from the military choppers sent Marcus's small civilian helicopter spinning wildly out of control. "Ah! Help! The helicopter is going down!" Chloe screamed, dropping the baseball bat and clinging onto the co-pilot's seat for dear life. Marcus fought the controls frantically, his face turning pale as a sheet. "What is going on?!" "Is there a military exercise here today?!" "Why wasn't there any airspace restriction notice?!"
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