Two paramedics rushed inside carrying an orange trauma bag and a thermal blanket, dropping to their knees beside Lily[cite: 2].
Paramedic Sarah: Let's get these wet clothes off her right now. Mark, prep the pediatric heating pads[cite: 2].
Eleanor: How does she look, Doctor[cite: 2]?
Paramedic Sarah: Her core temp is ninety-four degrees. Mild stage-one hypothermia, but her breathing is clear and her pulse is strong[cite: 2].
Eleanor: Thank God... Thank God Almighty[cite: 2].
Eleanor stood back up, towering over Victoria, whose makeup was running in black streaks down her cheeks[cite: 2].
Patrick: Victoria, what did you just say about Lily? What do you mean she isn't my daughter[cite: 2]?!
Victoria: Ask your saintly mother! Ask her why your late wife Sarah spent three weeks at a fertility clinic in Boston[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: Sarah went to Boston for specialized chemotherapy treatments, you vile monster[cite: 2].
Victoria: That's what she told Patrick! She was seeing an old college flame behind his back[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: Sarah was battling stage-three lymphoma while carrying Patrick's child, Victoria[cite: 2].
Patrick: Mother... Is that true? Did Sarah hide her cancer to carry Lily to term[cite: 2]?
Eleanor: Sarah gave her own life so you could have a child, Patrick. And you rewarded her sacrifice by letting this viper drown your baby in a tank[cite: 2].
A choked, ragged sob tore out of Patrick's throat as he buried his face against the wet stone floor[cite: 2].
Patrick: Sarah... God, Sarah, what have I done[cite: 2]?!
Victoria: Stop crying like a pathetic child, Patrick! We have forty lawyers on our payroll! Get up and fight[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: Your forty lawyers were disbarred by the state supreme court forty minutes ago, Victoria[cite: 2].
Victoria: Disbarred?! That's impossible! Richard Vance is a lifetime board member of the state bar[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: Richard Vance gave federal investigators forty gigabytes of encrypted files this morning to save his own skin[cite: 2].
Victoria: Uncle Richard...? Uncle Richard betrayed us[cite: 2]?!
Eleanor: He gave them the records of your first marriage in Nassau, Victoria[cite: 2].
Victoria’s jaw dropped open, her eyes bulging in paralyzing, total dread[cite: 2].
Patrick: First marriage... What first marriage[cite: 2]?!
Eleanor: Victoria never divorced Charles Lawson. She married you three months ago under a forged Bahamian dissolution decree[cite: 2].
Patrick: You... You were already married[cite: 2]?!
Eleanor: Felony bigamy under Texas Penal Code Section 25.01, Patrick[cite: 2].
Victoria: Charles signed the separation papers! He swore he filed them with the registry in Nassau[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: Charles kept the original marriage certificate to extort three million dollars from your father every summer[cite: 2].
Officer Davis: Which means your marriage to Mr. Vance is completely void under state law, ma'am[cite: 2].
Victoria: No! We signed a prenuptial agreement guaranteeing me fifty million dollars upon separation[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: An illegal marriage produces an illegal prenuptial agreement, Victoria. You walk out of here with nothing[cite: 2].
Lily: Grandma, the paramedic lady gave me warm apple juice[cite: 2]!
Eleanor looked over at Lily, her expression softening into gentle, warm adoration[cite: 2].
Eleanor: Drink it all up, my brave little girl. Nana is going to take you home to our ranch house in the hills[cite: 2].
Patrick: Mother, please don't take Lily away from me! She's my only child[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: You surrendered your parental rights the second you watched her pound on that glass, Patrick[cite: 2].
Patrick: I was confused! Victoria told me Lily was acting out! She manipulated my head[cite: 2]!
Eleanor: A real father protects his daughter from the entire world, Patrick. Even from himself[cite: 2].
Eleanor turned toward the front portico, signaling to the two state troopers waiting near the entrance arches[cite: 2].
A crowd of camera crews and local reporters were already gathering at the perimeter gates, flashing lenses catching the blue lights[cite: 2].