The Glass Beside Her Head
Chapter 01 - The Glass Beside Her Head
The champagne flute shattered before Nora Ashford hit the marble floor.
One moment she was standing beside the round glass table in the sunlit penthouse, one hand protecting her seven-month pregnancy and the other holding a folder she refused to sign.
The next, Celeste Ashford drove both palms into her shoulders.
Nora stumbled backward. Her hip struck the table. The flute toppled, burst against the edge, and scattered crystal across the white floor.
She landed on her side, breathless but conscious.
Celeste stood above her in a fitted burgundy dress and matching heels. Her black hair fell around a face twisted by anger.
“You should have signed when I asked politely.”
Nora pressed both hands over her abdomen.
“The baby is fine,” she whispered to herself.
Celeste lifted one heel and placed it beside the hem of Nora’s white dress—not touching her body, but close enough to make the threat unmistakable.
“By tonight, Lucas will believe you broke the glass during another episode.”
Nora looked toward the ceiling camera.
Celeste laughed.
“I disconnected it.”
“The room has more than one witness.”
Celeste’s confidence faltered.
Nora glanced at the broken flute.
A pale blue light flashed inside the glass table’s metal rim.
IMPACT ARCHIVE ACTIVE.
Celeste saw it too late.
The penthouse doors opened.
Lucas Ashford ran into the room wearing a black tuxedo, followed by family attorney Naomi Bell. His expression changed from confusion to horror when he saw Nora on the floor and his mother standing above her.
“Nora!”
Celeste stepped back.
“She fell.”
Lucas crossed the room and knelt beside his wife.
“Can I help you sit up?”
Nora nodded.
Naomi called emergency services while Lucas supported Nora carefully against the sofa.
Then the room’s hidden speakers activated.
Celeste’s recorded voice filled the penthouse.
By tonight, Lucas will believe you broke the glass during another episode.
Nobody moved.
The recording continued.
Once the incapacity order is signed, I control your shares until the child is born.
Lucas looked at his mother.
“What incapacity order?”
Celeste’s face went pale.
May you like
Nora reached beneath the folder and removed a small silver key.
“The one she hid inside your company’s merger papers.”
