Lily reached the top of the marble staircase and walked quietly toward her bedroom door.
Victoria stepped directly into the middle of the carpeted hallway and blocked her path completely.
The sunlight from the high ceiling windows illuminated Victoria's long green dress in the quiet corridor.
Lily pulled her stuffed bear closer to her chest and took two slow steps backward.
Victoria: Why do you always run to your father every single time I speak to you?
Lily: I just want to get my blue shoes from my bedroom closet, Victoria.
Victoria: You need to understand your proper place in this grand house right now, little girl.
Victoria stepped forward until she was standing directly over the small trembling child.
Lily: Please let me pass so I can go back downstairs to my daddy.
Victoria: Your father is a very busy man who does not need your endless crying every day.
Victoria reached out her hand and grabbed the child's small yellow stuffed bear roughly.
Lily: Give it back to me, please! My mother gave me that toy!
Victoria: Your mother is gone, and you need to stop living in the past.
Victoria tossed the stuffed bear over the polished brass balcony railing without any hesitation.
The toy tumbled through the empty air and landed on the cold marble floor far below.
Lily let out a sharp cry and ran straight toward the decorative balcony railing.
Lily: Why did you do that to my special toy?
Victoria grabbed the young girl's narrow shoulder with a heavy and hard grip.
She shoved the girl back toward the open space near the marble balustrade railing.
Victoria: Look down there and see what happens when you disobey me in this house!
Lily slipped on the polished floor tiles and lost her balance near the edge.
Her hands scrambled wildly to hold onto the decorative brass posts of the railing.
Lily: Daddy! Help me, please! I am going to fall!
Victoria stood over her with a cold expression and did not reach out to help.
Her green dress swished softly as she took one small step backward away from the child.
Lily gasped loudly as her feet slid closer toward the steep drop of the open atrium.
The silence of the large mansion was shattered by the child's terrified screams echoing everywhere.
Down in the foyer, the heavy oak office door opened with a sudden loud bang.