‘You sure did, babe. I am proud of you.’
Carola couldn’t bring herself to look at them. The two people she had trusted the most.
Her suspicion was correct. They were in love, but her money? Was she really a naïve little girl whose friend was jealous because she was rich?
‘Now, you will gracefully jump off the building. We will tell everyone you did so because you were humiliated by your parents and their deed, and we will let Adam go,’ Elliot revealed.
‘And, if I don’t?’ Carola knew it was futile to ask, but she did nonetheless. She had no doubt about the fact that neither her parents nor her brother was safe, even if she did what they were asking.

‘Well then, your brother will never see the light of another day, and as for your parents, they will be put to trial and found guilty of the crimes they didn’t commit. You would think a brother wouldn’t want to do this to his own brother, but money, oh, money makes people do the vilest of all things,’ Ella finished for him.
‘How do I know my brother and parents will be safe if I do what you are asking?’ Carola didn’t for a second believe them anymore.

‘Listen here,’ Elliot began, taking quick steps towards her. Carola couldn’t help but cower away from him, taking steps back, until she hit the edge of the building. She looked behind her, realizing her mistake.
‘If you don’t do this, we will make your life miserable. Your parents will be found guilty, and your brother will be killed. Do you know his wife is pregnant? I suppose we would have to kill the child too now, won’t we?’ He smiled wickedly at Ella, who only beamed at him.
‘Why do you think my uncles would let you lead the business? Once I am dead, and I know – no matter what happens – you will never let my brother or my parents go, my uncles are the next in line. Everything will be given to them, lawfully.

What would you do then?’ Carola was just wasting time, hoping for someone to find her and save her, because, in all reality, she really did not want to die.
She wanted to live and grow old with the man she loved – not Elliot, but someone who loved her, as she loved him. She wanted her brother’s children to be best friends with her own. She wanted her parents to become grandparents to her children. She wanted her own children to grow up in a small house near a lake.