The sound of metal snapping cut through the terrace with brutal, sudden finality, Daniel's blade severing the cable in a single deliberate motion before anyone could react quickly enough to stop him. Rosa's scream tangled with Grace's as both women felt the sudden, sickening lurch of gravity taking hold, the cable falling away entirely beneath their desperate grip. For one suspended, horrifying moment, time seemed to stretch impossibly thin, the glittering pool rushing up to meet them as Eleanor's belated scream of protest echoed uselessly across the terrace behind them. Rosa's arms instinctively wrapped around Grace as they fell together, some desperate, protective instinct overriding the pure terror flooding through her body, determined even now to shield the pregnant woman and her unborn children from whatever impact awaited them below. The water hit them both with tremendous force, the splash sending spray high into the afternoon air, the sound sharp and violent against the otherwise peaceful backdrop of the luxury estate. Above them, on the terrace, Daniel remained standing perfectly still, staring down at the water with an expression that revealed nothing at all about whether he felt any remorse for what he'd just done. Eleanor's hands flew to her mouth in belated, genuine horror, finally understanding the full weight of what her son had truly been capable of all along. Whether Grace, Rosa, and the five unborn lives caught in that desperate fall would survive the impact remained, in that single suspended moment, an agonizing, unanswered question hanging over the entire estate.