The heavy glass entrance doors of the mansion swung open, and Victoria Sterling stepped into the grand foyer, holding an expensive leather handbag.
She wore a perfectly tailored black dress and oversized sunglasses, her face styled into a mask of fake concern.
Victoria: "Arthur! Oh, my goodness, I heard screaming from the driveway! Is everything alright?"
Arthur stood near the center of the foyer, right beside the prominent American flag hanging between the grand columns.
Elena stood firmly at his left side, while two heavy estate security officers stood guard near the front exit.
Arthur: "Everything is fine, Victoria. Why wouldn't it be?"
Victoria: "Well... I thought I heard a crash! I was so worried about little Leo!"
Arthur: "Leo is upstairs sleeping safely in his crib."
Victoria's steps hesitated slightly on the marble floor, her polished composure cracking for a fraction of a second.
Victoria: "Sleeping? You mean... he's in his crib?"
Elena: "He's alive and completely uninjured, Mrs. Sterling."
Victoria sneered, glaring condescendingly at Elena's uniform.
Victoria: "I wasn't speaking to the help, young lady. Arthur, why is this maid standing beside you like an equal?"
Arthur: "Because she saved my son's life today, Victoria. While someone else tried to murder him."
Victoria let out a forced, dramatic laugh, waving her manicured hand in the air.
Victoria: "Murder? Arthur, darling, you're working too hard! You're letting stress get to your head!"
Arthur: "Am I? Because thirty minutes ago, someone carried Leo to the balcony and dropped him sixty feet down into this hall."
Victoria: "That's horrific! It must have been one of the careless servants! You should fire the entire staff immediately!"
Elena: "The only person on that balcony was you, Mrs. Sterling."
Victoria: "How dare you accuse me, you ungrateful little brat! Arthur, fire this woman right now or I will file a defamation lawsuit against her!"
Arthur: "You won't be filing any lawsuits today, Victoria."
Arthur pulled a digital tablet from his jacket pocket and tapped the screen once.
The massive television monitor mounted on the foyer wall flickered to life, broadcasting the four-K camera footage in bright, unedited detail.
The video clearly showed Victoria taking Leo out of the nursery, walking to the railing, and hurling the baby into the open air.
Victoria froze, her breath catching violently in her throat as her face turned ash-grey.
Victoria: "That... that camera was supposed to be disconnected for electrical repairs!"
Arthur: "Thank you for admitting you planned around the maintenance schedule."
Victoria: "Arthur, wait! It’s not what it looks like! I... I slipped! The baby was heavy!"
Elena: "You didn't slip. You lifted him over the railing with both hands and pushed him."
Victoria: "Shut up! You're just a nobody! A minimum-wage maid!"
Arthur: "She is the woman who caught my son while you tried to slaughter him for a trust fund!"
Victoria stepped back toward the glass entrance doors, her confidence completely shattered.
Victoria: "Arthur, please! We are family! Your father loved me!"
Arthur: "My father would spit on your face if he were alive today."
Outside the front doors, the loud wail of police sirens echoed down the long driveway, accompanied by flashing red and blue lights reflecting against the white marble walls.
Victoria: "You called the police on your own family?!"
Arthur: "I called the FBI and the homicide division. You are going to prison for attempted murder, Victoria."