She turned to look at me. The wind had leached all color from her face, but her eyes—her eyes were steel.
"Dad, if you don't keep playing, I'm jumping."
My entire world tilted. Everything went sideways.
My first instinct was that she was bluffing.
Then she inched forward another fraction, and my knees buckled.
Isabel rushed toward me, panic splintering her voice. "Leslie, what project could possibly matter more than your daughter?! Just agree!"
Nicholas chimed in right behind her. "Leslie, I know you're angry, but the child is innocent. For Ramona's sake—can't you just bear with it?"
When I said nothing, Nanette shrieked, "How can you be so heartless?! If anything happens to Ramona, I won't want to live either!"
I looked at my daughter, suspended in the void beyond that windowsill, and a crushing wave of helplessness crashed over me.
"Fine. Fine!"
"Fine, I'll play! I'll play, okay?!"
The second the words left my mouth, I rushed over and pulled my daughter back from the window ledge.
"You foolish child!"
"How could you gamble with your own life like that?!"
She leaned into my arms and whispered, "Dad, trust me. Everything I'm doing is for your sake."
I looked down at her.