The freezing rain poured down violently, soaking Clara’s hair and plastering Lily's paper gown to her shivering skin.
Julian tackled Clara onto the slippery marble steps outside, pinning the elderly woman to the cold stone.
Julian: Give me the child, Mother! I’ll tell the authorities you suffered a nervous breakdown and kidnapped a lookalike!
Clara: You think anyone will believe your lies? Her DNA is in that hospital registry!
Julian: Money buys any narrative I want! Nobody questions a grieving billionaire heir!
Lily: Let go of my Grandma!
Lily picked up a heavy wet garden stone from the driveway border and hurled it at Julian’s face with both hands.
The jagged rock caught Julian squarely on his brow, splitting the skin and blinding his right eye with crimson blood.
Julian: Argh! My eye! You vicious little rat!
Clara rolled out from underneath him, using the garden balustrade to pull herself to her feet.
Clara: Keep moving, Lily! Keep screaming!
Just then, bright headlights cut through the torrential downpour. The iron gates at the bottom of the estate driveway swung open.
A black luxury sedan pulled into the circular driveway, followed closely by two marked patrol cruisers.
Veronica: Julian! The police are here! Why are the police here?
Julian scrambled up the steps, wiping rain and blood from his forehead, panic choking his throat.
Julian: Did you call them, Mother? How could you call them?
The car door opened, and a tall man in a navy suit stepped out under a large black umbrella.
Marcus: She didn't call them, Julian. I did.
Clara recognized the voice instantly. It was Marcus Hayes, the chief legal executor of Lily’s mother’s estate.
Julian: Marcus? What are you doing at my private residence at midnight?
Marcus: The coroner you bribed with two hundred thousand dollars had a sudden crisis of conscience when the FBI knocked on his door two hours ago.
Julian: That’s a lie! It’s all a misunderstanding! My daughter died of pneumonia!
Marcus stepped forward, shining his flashlight directly onto the drenched, shivering little girl clinging to Clara’s legs.
Marcus: Then explain to the officers why your deceased daughter is standing on your front porch.
Two armed police officers stepped out into the rain, unholstering their tasers as they moved up the marble stairs.
Officer Davis: Julian Vance, step away from the child! Put your hands behind your back right now!
Julian: No! You don't understand! She was sick! I had to protect the trust fund!
Officer Davis: Hands behind your head! Down on your knees!
Veronica turned around, frantically trying to slip back into the mansion to grab her passport and jewelry.
Officer Martinez: Don't move, ma'am! Hands where I can see them!