Chapter 2 - The Plunge
The world tilted entirely out of focus.
Valeria didn't even have time to scream. The sudden, violent force launched her backward over the edge of the pool. For a terrifying, suspended fraction of a second, she hung in the air, her arms flailing uselessly.
Smack.
Her body hit the surface of the deep end with a brutal, shocking impact. The cold water rushed into her mouth and nose, instantly stealing her breath. The sheer weight of her eight-month pregnancy dragged her downward like a stone.
Panic, raw and absolute, exploded in her chest. She thrashed her arms, trying to propel herself back up toward the shimmering sunlight visible through the distorted blue water. But something was horribly wrong.
Her wrists wouldn't separate.
She looked down through the stinging, chlorinated water. Her wrists had been bound tightly together with a thick, industrial-grade plastic zip tie. Teresa had slipped it on her with terrifying speed during the shove.
Valeria kicked her legs desperately, but the nightmare deepened. A heavy, agonizing pull jerked her right ankle, halting her ascent completely. She twisted her body, looking down into the deep, dark blue abyss of the pool's twelve-foot drop.
A thick, rusted iron chain was wrapped tightly around her ankle, secured with a heavy padlock. The other end of the chain was bolted directly to the heavy, marble base of a decorative Roman statue that had recently been submerged for a planned underwater light show.
She was tethered to the bottom.
No! No!
Valeria writhed violently, her lungs burning, screaming for oxygen. The chain afforded her barely two feet of movement. She was suspended several feet below the surface, the bright, mocking sunlight dancing just out of her reach.
May you like
Silver bubbles erupted from her lips as she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Water rushed in, choking her. Instinctively, abandoning her struggle to swim, she brought her bound hands down to cover her swollen belly.
My baby. Please, God, not my baby.
