Victoria: Do not look inside!
Victoria grabbed Clara by the shoulder, trying to drag her away from the altar. Without missing a beat, Clara swung the heavy steel crowbar backward in a sharp arc. The solid metal struck Victoria squarely across her forehead with a heavy blunt impact.
Victoria: Ah!
Victoria let out a muffled groan as blood instantly welled along her hairline. She stumbled backward, lost her footing on the altar steps, and collapsed heavily onto the marble floor. Her dark sunglasses clattered away across the tiles.
Clara: I told you to stay away from me!
Guard One: Hey! She just hit Mrs. Sterling!
Guard Two: Call the precinct right now! We need backup in the chapel!
Clara: Come any closer and you're next!
Clara jammed the flat edge of the crowbar under the latch of the casket. She threw her entire body weight against the lever. With a loud, violent wood-shattering sound, the top lid split completely in two and popped open.
Clara: Oh, God...
A dense, overwhelmingly thick layer of glowing white lilies filled the entire inside of the casket. Hundreds of fresh white petals were packed tightly together, hiding whatever lay beneath them. The heavy scent of sweet flowers filled the dusty air of the chapel.
Victoria: Don't touch those flowers! You don't understand what you're doing!
Clara: Shut up, Victoria!
Clara set the iron crowbar on the floor and plunged her bare hands into the dense pile of lilies. She parted the thick stems and threw the white petals out of the box, her palms searching desperately through the greenery.
Victoria: Stop her! Guards, tackle her!
Guard One: Ma'am, we can't get involved in a family estate dispute when there's blood on the floor!
Clara: There's something soft in here...
Clara's fingers brushed against a soft, knitted pink blanket buried beneath the center cluster of petals. She parted the remaining flowers, her breath catching in her throat.
Clara: Oh, sweet mercy...
Resting quietly among the crushed flower petals was a tiny, living newborn baby. The infant was swaddled tightly in pink wool, its small chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths. The baby blinked its tiny dark eyes up at the bright sunlight streaming through the chapel windows.
Victoria: No... no, no, no...
Clara: You monster... You put a living baby inside a sealed casket!
Clara reached down into the shattered wooden box with gentle, trembling hands. She slid her arms under the swaddled blanket, carefully lifting the tiny newborn out from the bed of lily petals.
Clara: It's okay, little one. I've got you. You're safe now.
She pulled the small baby close to her chest, holding the infant securely against her red flannel shirt. Clara leaned down and tenderly pressed a soft, tearful kiss onto the baby's warm forehead.
Victoria: That child belongs to the Sterling estate trust! You have no right to touch her!
Clara: This is my sister's baby! The baby you lied about and told everyone died at birth!
Victoria pressed a silk handkerchief against the bleeding cut on her forehead, her face contorting with desperate rage as she struggled to stand up from the marble floor.
Victoria: Give me that infant right now, Clara, or you will spend the rest of your life in a state penitentiary!
Clara: The only person going to prison today is you, stepmother.