Mark: "Hold on, Lily! Daddy's got you! Hold on, baby!"[cite: 1]
Evelyn: "Mark, stop! You're making a terrible mistake! Let the bucket go!"[cite: 1]
Mark: "Get away from me! If you touch this handle again, I swear to God I'll throw you down there myself!"[cite: 1]
The metallic gears screeched loudly as Mark spun the handle with everything he had[cite: 1]. The thick rope wound back around the wooden spindle until the lip of the galvanized bucket finally broke through the surface of the well opening[cite: 1]. Lily sat huddled inside, shivering violently despite the blistering Texas heat, her small frame wracked with sobs[cite: 1].
Mark: "Oh God, Lily! My sweet baby!"[cite: 1]
Mark reached down into the bucket, lifting the terrified toddler out and setting her onto the smooth stone ledge[cite: 1]. His hands shook uncontrollably as he placed his fingers at the edge of the thick white tape covering her face[cite: 1].
Mark: "I'm so sorry, baby. This is going to hurt for a second. Hold still for Daddy."
With a quick, careful pull, Mark peeled the tape away from her fair skin[cite: 1]. Lily let out a sharp, piercing scream, throwing her little arms tightly around her father's neck as she buried her tear-streaked face into his shoulder[cite: 1].
Lily: "Daddy! Daddy! WAH! WAH!"[cite: 1]
Mark: "Daddy is right here. You're safe now, Lily. I've got you. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again."[cite: 1]
Evelyn: "Mark, listen to reason for once in your life! She was playing near the edge and fell in! I was trying to reel her back up when you ran over!"
Lily: "She's lying, Daddy! She put the tape on my mouth! She tried to drown me in the deep water!"[cite: 1]
Mark pulled his daughter back slightly, looking down into her wide blue eyes[cite: 1]. Red adhesive marks covered her mouth, and thick rope burns lined her tiny wrists where she had tried to pull herself free[cite: 1]. His jaw clenched so hard his teeth ground together, a dark, terrifying wrath settling into his eyes as he looked over at his stepmother[cite: 1].
Mark: "She tried to drown you?"[cite: 1]
Lily: "She said... she said I was going to sleep with the frogs at the bottom!"[cite: 1]
Evelyn: "She's three years old, Mark! She has an overactive imagination! You know how toddlers make up stories when they get scared!"
Mark: "Did her overactive imagination tape her own mouth shut, Evelyn?! Did she tie her own arms with commercial-grade nylon rope?!"[cite: 1]
Evelyn: "I... I found her like that! Someone else must have put her in the bucket! I was just trying to pull her out before you got home!"
Mark: "You were turning the handle clockwise! Clockwise lowers the bucket into the pit, Evelyn! I've lived on this estate for thirty years, I know how the well works!"[cite: 1]
Evelyn took two steps backward, her expensive leather heels sinking into the soft dirt of the flower bed as Mark stood up, cradling his crying daughter against his chest[cite: 1].
Mark: "Why? Why would you do this to an innocent child?"
Evelyn: "Because she isn't innocent! She is a constant reminder of that floozy your father married after he threw me aside!"
Mark: "My mother died giving birth to me! Lily's mother died in a car crash last year! They were good women, Evelyn!"
Evelyn: "They were parasites! Just like this little brat! As long as she's alive, your father's will leaves fifty percent of the Dallas real estate trust to her!"
Mark: "So you thought you could murder my daughter and claim her inheritance?"
Evelyn: "I deserve that trust fund! I gave twenty years of my life to the Sterling family name!"