The afternoon sun hit the limestone patio beside the swimming pool with blinding force.
A black designer stroller sat near the drop, its small wheels unlocked on the slick stone tiles.
Victoria stood over the pram in her teal green satin dress, her diamond rings catching the glare.
Victoria: You should have never been born into this family, little burden.
Victoria: Your father thinks you will inherit sixty percent of the estate trust.
Victoria: But accidents happen so fast when the ground is wet.
She placed both manicured hands against the handlebar and gave it a cold, deliberate shove.
The stroller rolled across the patio edge and plunged straight into the deep water with a heavy splash.
Inside the bassinet, two-month-old Leo let out a muffled wail as the dark water swallowed him.
From the garden pathway, Rosa dropped her wicker laundry basket and screamed in horror.
Rosa: The baby! Oh God, no!
Victoria: Stay back, maid! Do not jump in!
Rosa did not hesitate for a second.
She sprinted forward in her black housemaid uniform and threw herself headfirst into eight feet of water.
The chlorinated depths went dead silent as bubbles erupted toward the sunny surface.
Rosa kicked down through the blue water, her lungs screaming for oxygen as she reached the sinking carriage.
The heavy frame was already settling against the tiled bottom near the deep drain.
Her fingers fought with the safety harness, unclicking the plastic buckle with desperate, frantic strength.
She pulled the tiny boy against her chest and pushed hard off the pool bottom.
She broke the surface gasping, lifting the coughing infant high onto the flagstone deck.
Rosa: I saved him! He is breathing!
The patio doors flew open as David Sterling charged outside in his grey linen shirt.
David: What happened?!
Victoria: She pushed him into the water! The maid tried to drown your son!
David looked from his soaking child to the weeping maid, completely blind to the trap closing around him.