“Yeah. Maybe you should do something in your usual style. Let’s have some fun.”
Both of them knew exactly what those words meant.
“Her usual style” meant finding someone weaker, humiliating them, making them look ridiculous, and entertaining everyone else with it.
At that very moment, a young maid walked past them carrying a tray of champagne glasses.
The girl had only recently started working in the house. She tried to perform her duties as well as possible and avoid drawing attention to herself.
“Hey, you! What’s your name again?” the birthday girl called out.
The maid stopped.
“Eleonora, ma’am.”
“Eleonora, come swim with us.”
The girl immediately turned pale.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m working right now. And besides… I can’t swim, and I’m very afraid of water.”
The birthday girl’s friend laughed quietly.
“Did you hear that? She’s afraid of water.”
But Eleonora was completely serious.
“It’s true, ma’am. I could drown.”
“Oh, stop making things up. It’s my birthday today. Give me a gift.”
“Please, forgive me…”
“It’s not even that deep. Come on.”
Before the maid could say another word, the wealthy heiress suddenly shoved her with both hands.
Eleonora lost her balance and fell into the pool along with the tray. Water splashed in every direction.
“And you said you were afraid!” the birthday girl laughed.
A few guests immediately started laughing as well.
Someone pulled out a phone. Someone else applauded. To some people, the whole thing looked like a funny joke.
But a few seconds passed. Then a few more.
Eleonora never came back up.
The smiles slowly began to disappear from the guests’ faces.
“Why isn’t she surfacing?” someone asked quietly.
The laughter stopped completely.
Now nobody was joking anymore. Everyone stared at the water with growing concern.The silence that followed was suffocating. The crystal-clear water of the luxury pool rippled lazily, but there was no sign of Eleonora. The heavy silver tray and shattered champagne glasses rested at the very bottom, gleaming under the afternoon sun like a grim omen.
“Chloe… do something,” her friend whispered, her face suddenly losing all its color.
Chloe, the billionaire’s daughter, swallowed hard, her arrogant posture fracturing. “She’s—she’s just acting. She wants attention.” But her voice trembled. She looked around at her friends, but the smartphones that had been filming a joke were now lowered in sheer panic.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the terrace. The heavy glass doors of the mansion slid open, and Chloe’s father, Arthur Vance, stepped out onto the deck. He wasn’t alone. Walking beside him was a stern man in a high-ranking naval uniform, flanked by two security guards.
Arthur’s eyes swept over the silent crowd and landed instantly on the rippling pool. Before Chloe could utter a word, the naval officer let out a guttural cry, ripped off his decorated jacket, and dove headfirst into the water.
Within seconds, he surfaced, holding the unconscious, pale body of Eleonora in his arms. He dragged her onto the marble deck and immediately began executing flawless CPR.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Arthur roared, his face turning an unhinged shade of red.
Chloe stepped back, stammering. “Dad, it was an accident! She just fell in! She’s just a maid—”
“She is not just a maid, you foolish, arrogant girl!” Arthur’s voice boomed, shaking the very glass of the penthouse. He turned to the naval officer, who was now weeping as Eleonora suddenly coughed up water, gasping for air and clinging to him.
The officer looked up at Chloe, his eyes burning with a terrifying, cold rage. “This ‘maid’ is my daughter, Admiral Vance’s granddaughter, and the sole heir to the maritime logistics fleet your father has been begging to partner with for the last three years.”
Chloe froze. Her breath caught in her throat as the truth unraveled.
Eleonora hadn’t taken the job out of poverty; she had taken it because her grandfather, a strict naval traditionalist, insisted she learn the value of hard work from the ground up before inheriting the family empire. Arthur Vance had spent months trying to secure a multi-billion-dollar merger with Eleonora’s family, a deal that was meant to save his own crumbling company from bankruptcy.
“Admiral, I am so deeply sorry—” Arthur began, his voice shaking as he dropped to his knees beside the coughing girl.
“Save your breath, Arthur,” the Admiral spat, wrapping his dry uniform jacket around his shivering daughter. “The merger is dead. And as for your daughter…” He glared at Chloe, who looked as though she might faint. “I will ensure every video recorded on these phones is subpoenaed. Attempted manslaughter is a felony, even for a millionaire’s child.”
Within minutes, the luxury party turned into a crime scene. Paramedics escorted Eleonora away, while local police officers, called directly by the Admiral’s security detail, marched onto the rooftop.
Chloe’s friends immediately scattered, deleting their videos and abandoning her to avoid being named as accomplices. Chloe was led away in handcuffs, weeping and ruinously exposed under the harsh afternoon sun, while her father sat with his head in his hands, knowing his empire had just drowned in his own daughter’s malice.”
