Elena stopped in her tracks right outside the cracked wooden nursery door.
She stayed low behind the tall shadow of the wooden cabinet to observe the scene.
Victoria stood over the small wooden crib while wearing her bright blue diamond gown.
She held a heavy set of metal keys in her polished right hand.
Victoria: You are just a tiny obstacle in my way, little boy.
Baby Leo made a soft crying noise as he looked up with big brown eyes.
Victoria: Keep quiet! Your father is not here to save you today.
Elena felt a sudden rush of cold panic sweep straight through her chest.
She watched Victoria reach down and grab the heavy woolen baby blanket away from Leo.
The poor infant began to shiver in the drafty air near the open window.
Victoria picked up the crying baby without any gentleness or warm affection at all.
She walked quickly out of the nursery toward the cold storage room at the back of the house.
That storage room was windowless, dark, and kept at freezing temperatures for storing old supplies.
Elena: What is she planning to do with him?
Elena kept her footsteps completely silent as she followed Victoria down the service stairs.
The cold air from the lower basement level bit against Elena's bare arms.
Victoria pushed open the heavy iron door of the dark storage pantry.
She placed the shivering infant onto a cold metal bench inside the dark room.
Victoria: Stay in here where no one can hear your annoying cries!
Victoria: Once you are gone, all the family money belongs to me!
Victoria pulled the heavy iron door shut and turned the big brass key in the lock.
She laughed quietly to herself as she stepped back into the bright hallway.
Elena hid behind a large concrete pillar until Victoria walked back up the stairs.
As soon as the hallway was clear, Elena rushed forward to the heavy door.
Elena: Hold on, little Leo! I am going to get you out right now!
The baby was crying frantically inside the dark and cold locked storage room.
Elena pulled hard on the round iron handle, but the door was locked tight.
She knew she needed to find the master key before the freezing air harmed the infant.
She ran quickly toward the mansion office where Arthur kept spare keys inside his desk.
Her heart beat wildly against her ribs as she sprinted across the polished floors.
She could hear the soft sound of Victoria humming a cheerful tune upstairs in the main living room.
It made Elena sick to her stomach to see such cold cruelty in a human being.
She opened the office door and began searching through the heavy wooden drawers.