The midday sun beat down hard against the marble terrace of the Hayes estate, but the water pooling around Maya felt ice-cold.
Victoria: Get your filthy hands off him! Let him go right now, you monster!
Maya sat shivering on the stone steps, her black uniform clinging to her skin, holding four-year-old Leo against her chest as he coughed up water.
Maya: Please, ma'am, he couldn't breathe. He fell straight in.
Victoria: Shut your mouth! You threw him! I saw you from the balcony!
Tires screeched in the circular driveway. Heavy footsteps echoed fast across the flagstone patio. Richard Hayes rounded the corner, his tailored suit jacket unbuttoned, his briefcase crashing onto the grass.
Richard: What is going on here? Why is my son soaking wet?
Victoria yanked Leo roughly from Maya’s arms. The little boy shrieked, reaching his tiny hands back out toward Maya.
Victoria: Richard, thank God you're home! She tried to drown our son in the pool!
Richard stared down at the trembling maid, his face contorting into sudden fury.
Richard: You tried to kill my boy?
Maya: Mr. Hayes, no! I swear on my life, that is not what happened!
Richard: You're done. You will spend the rest of your life in a cell for this.
Richard stepped forward, raising his clenched fist, ready to strike the girl who had dared touch his son.
Leo: Daddy, stop! Don't hurt her!
Leo’s desperate scream froze Richard's arm in mid-air. But it wasn't the plea to stop that stopped Richard's heart—it was the terrified glance the little boy threw toward the woman holding him, and the chilling words he choked out next.