Chapter 1 - The Edge“Mom... I’m scared!”
Sadie Mercer’s voice nearly vanished beneath the wind.
At ten years old, she had never understood how something invisible could feel so violent. The gusts tore at her hair, pressed against her chest, and rattled the straps of the parachute harness wrapped around her small body.
The cliff stretched beneath her like the end of the world.
Sadie couldn’t see the bottom without leaning forward, and she refused to lean forward.
“I’ve never done this before,” she cried. “I don’t know what to do!”
Behind her, Corinne rested a hand on her shoulder.
For a moment, Sadie felt relief.
Corinne was her stepmother, but for the past two years Sadie had been encouraged to call her Mom. Her father, Grant, had said it would help them become a family.
Corinne leaned closer.
“You’ll be fine,” she said softly. “It’s easy. You can do it.”
Sadie looked back at her.
Corinne was smiling.
But something about the smile felt wrong.
The mouth was gentle.
The eyes were empty.
“Your dad and everyone else will be so proud of you,” Corinne added.
That hurt more than Sadie expected.
Grant Mercer had always told his daughter she was braver than she believed.
He owned Mercer Ridge Holdings, a family company that operated mountain lodges and outdoor recreation properties across Colorado and Wyoming. Grant had climbed mountains, crossed glaciers, and jumped from airplanes long before Sadie was born.
Sadie hated heights.
She had never told him how much she hated disappointing him.
Corinne knew that.
“I want Dad,” Sadie whispered.
“He’s waiting for you to prove you can do this.”
Sadie blinked.
“What?”
Corinne’s fingers tightened slightly against her shoulder.
“Nothing.”
Sadie stared at the drop again.
Something was wrong.
The trip had already been strange.
Corinne had driven her away from Mercer Ridge Lodge that morning without Grant. She had said Grant was dealing with an emergency board call and would meet them later.
There had been no instructor.
No safety briefing.
No other jumpers.
Just Corinne, Sadie, a packed parachute Corinne said had been prepared by the lodge’s staff, and the lonely western overlook known as Granite Crown.
Sadie shook her head.
“No.”
Corinne’s smile disappeared.
Sadie took half a step backward.
“I can’t do it.”
Her legs were shaking so hard that the metal clips on the harness clicked against one another.
“I’m too scared.”
Corinne’s expression changed.
It happened so quickly Sadie wondered if she had imagined the kindness that came before it.
Corinne’s brows lowered.
Her jaw hardened.
She stepped forward.
“If you don’t jump on your own...”
Sadie stared at her.
Corinne pointed directly at Sadie’s face.
“...I’ll shove you off myself.”
Sadie stopped breathing.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You said this was supposed to be fun.”
“It was supposed to be easy.”
Sadie began backing away.
“Please take me home.”
Corinne blocked her.
“Dad wouldn’t want this.”
Corinne laughed once.
Quietly.
“You have no idea what your father wants.”
Sadie’s hand went instinctively to the watch on her wrist.
Grant had given it to her for her tenth birthday.
He had kissed her forehead when he fastened it around her arm.
If you ever feel scared, call me. I don’t care where I am.
Sadie tapped the screen.
No service.
Corinne noticed.
For the first time, alarm flickered across her face.
Then she reached for Sadie.
Sadie jerked away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“You really should have made this easier.”
“Mom, please!”
“Stop calling me that.”
Sadie froze.
Corinne’s face became utterly calm.
“I was never your mother.”
The words cut deeper than the wind.
Sadie’s lips trembled.
She suddenly remembered something from three nights earlier.
Corinne standing in Grant’s study after midnight.
Whispering into her phone.
Sadie had only heard one sentence before Corinne noticed her in the hallway.
Once the shares are free, everything changes.
At the time, Sadie hadn’t understood.
Now Corinne’s eyes moved toward the parachute strapped to Sadie’s back.
Sadie understood something else.
This wasn’t about courage.
It had never been about courage.
Sadie turned.
She ran.
She made it only two steps.
Corinne caught her from behind.
“LET ME GO!”
Sadie twisted desperately.
Corinne shoved her toward the edge.
Sadie screamed.
Pebbles disappeared beneath her shoes.
She threw herself sideways and landed on one knee.
“Please!”
Corinne grabbed the back of the harness and dragged her upright.
Sadie sobbed so violently she could barely speak.
“I won’t tell Dad! I promise! I won’t tell anybody!”
Corinne stared at her.
“That’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said today.”
Hope flashed through Sadie.
“Then we can go home?”
Corinne looked almost amused.
“No.”
Sadie’s eyes widened.
Corinne moved behind her.
Two hands pressed against Sadie’s back.
“Mom, don’t!”
The push came hard.
Sadie’s shoes left the rock.
For one impossible second, she seemed suspended against the enormous blue Colorado sky.
Then there was nothing beneath her.
“NO!”
The scream tore from her throat as the cliff rushed upward behind her and the canyon opened below.
Wind slammed into her face.
Sadie clawed at the harness.
She didn’t know what to touch.
She didn’t know what to pull.
She didn’t know whether the parachute was supposed to open by itself.
She only knew she was falling.
Above her, Corinne became smaller.
A dark figure at the cliff edge.
Watching.
Sadie screamed for her father.
Then the parachute pack behind her jerked violently.
Something snapped open.
A burst of fabric appeared above her—
then twisted.
Sadie spun sideways.
The cliff wall rushed toward her.
She struck stone.
Pain exploded through her shoulder.
Another gust caught the tangled canopy.
Sadie dropped again.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Then the parachute lines snagged somewhere above.
Her body slammed into a narrow shelf of rock.
Her head struck the ground.
Everything went silent.
Far above, Corinne stood at the edge.
She could see part of the parachute disappearing against the rock face, far below her.
She waited.
There was no movement.
No voice.
No scream.
Corinne’s breathing slowed.
The corner of her mouth lifted.
She stepped backward from the cliff.
Then she calmly took out her phone.
Her first call was not to 911.
It was to a man saved in her contacts under a false name.
He answered immediately.
Corinne stared toward the empty sky.
“It’s done.”
There was a pause.
Then the man asked one question.
May you like
Corinne’s sinister smile vanished.
“What do you mean the watch was recording?”
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