Rhonda Lyon plunged to her death in a dramatic climax on Wednesday to the Empire season cliffhanger.
The hit hip-hop TV show ended its previous season with Andre Lyon's wife tussling violently with Anika Calhoun - cutting to a scream suggesting one of them falling.
The answer finally arrived at the beginning of the new season as Rhonda, played by Kaitlin Doubleday, smashed into the top of father-in-law Lucious Lyon's limo as he went to leave his shock wedding to Anika.
Lucious, played by Terrence Howard, had just asked where Andre was when his son's wife plunged to her death - with the music mogul and his family staring in disbelief at her body lying in the wrecked roof of his car, blood trickling out of her mouth.
Andre, played by Trai Byers, had arrived at the deadly scene just before his wife toppled over - and quickly pounced on her killer, grabbing Anika around the throat as he screamed: 'You killed my wife!
'She attacked me, Andre!' Anika pleaded, before the sound of flowing water made them realize her water had broke and she was about to have the baby of Andre's brother - and her new husband Lucious's son - Hakeem Lyon, played by Bryshere Gray.
The realization snapped Andre out of his rage and he instead carried her to help, with the family next seen at hospital where she was about to give birth.
Lucious showed no interest in supporting Anika - his ex who he married just to prevent her being forced to be questioned by federal agents - until he saw police officers arriving in the hospital.
That was enough to send him into the delivery room, pretending to encourage his new wife to push out the baby - but instead whispering in her ear a warning about what she had to tell the police.
After pretending to encourage her to push, he whispered: 'Speaking of push, you see the cops out the window right now? Nobody pushed Rhonda - she jumped, you tried to stop her, she overpowered you trying to take you with her, grabbing you by the throat.
'Which is what's going to happen if you don't go with the story, you hear me?'
Anika, played by Grace Gealey, was shown sobbing at his warning - then giving one final push to deliver her baby.
But Lucious once again looked furious when told it was a girl - rather than the boy he had been told she was having - telling Anika menacingly: 'You lied to me.'
Hakeem missed the birth of his daughter as he was so drunk and furious at his father marrying the mother of his child - and at what had supposed to have been his own wedding - that he went to his ex-girfriend's house and passed out, missing all his calls.
The season premiere also featured a flashback of Cookie as a girl meeting Lucious for the first time.
Empire returns next week on Fox.
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