The thunderous splash from the deep end echoed off the limestone columns of the three-story estate[cite: 1].
Clara scrambled to her feet, her raw, bloody hands leaving red smears against the white balcony rail[cite: 1].
Clara: Caris! Swim to the steps! Caris, please move[cite: 1]!
Daniel: Don't bother screaming, maid. The pool is twelve feet deep[cite: 1].
Clara: You pushed your pregnant wife off a balcony! You tried to murder her[cite: 1]!
Evelyn: Be quiet, girl! You will keep your mouth shut if you want to keep breathing our air[cite: 1].
Daniel: She slipped while cleaning the exterior glass, Clara. That is what you will tell the police when they arrive[cite: 1].
Clara: I will tell them you cut the anchor! I will tell them you watched her fall with a smile on your face[cite: 1]!
Daniel stepped directly into Clara's space, his jaw clenched tight as he pointed a rigid finger at her face[cite: 1].
Daniel: Who do you think the district attorney is going to believe? A billionaire heir or a maid who makes fourteen dollars an hour[cite: 1]?
Evelyn: My family funds the entire municipal police foundation, you little fool[cite: 1].
Clara: I don't care about your foundation! She is drowning down there[cite: 1]!
Clara spun away from the railing and sprinted toward the spiral marble staircase, taking the steps three at a time[cite: 1].
Her black flat shoes slapped against the stone, her breath coming in ragged, suffocating gasps as she burst through the lower terrace doors[cite: 1].
Across the tiled patio, the blue water of the swimming pool was churning violently as Caris surfaced, coughing and choking on chlorinated water[cite: 1].
Caris: Clara... My stomach... It hurts so bad[cite: 1]!
Clara: Grab my hand! Reach for my fingers, Caris[cite: 1]!
Clara dropped to her knees at the edge of the coping, leaning her upper body over the water to seize Caris's wrist[cite: 1].
With a desperate, agonizing pull, she dragged her sister out of the deep end and onto the warm poolside stone[cite: 1].
Caris lay on her side, trembling violently in her soaked light blue dress, both hands clutching her abdomen[cite: 1].
Caris: Is the baby okay? Clara, please tell me my baby is alive[cite: 1]...
Clara: Take deep breaths, sweetheart. I'm calling an ambulance right now[cite: 1].
Heavy footsteps clicked slowly across the pool tiles as Daniel and Evelyn approached from the patio stairs[cite: 1].
Daniel carried a leather cigar case, casually tapping a match against the striker while looking down at the shivering woman[cite: 1].
Daniel: Look at you. You look like a wet sewer rat, Caris[cite: 1].
Caris: Daniel... Why did you do this to me? I loved you[cite: 1]...
Daniel: You loved the idea of living in a forty-room mansion on the Hudson River, darling[cite: 1].
Evelyn: Stand up, girl, and hand over your wedding band. This ridiculous farce is finished[cite: 1].
Clara: Don't you dare touch her, Evelyn! Back away from my sister[cite: 1]!
Daniel: Your sister? How touching. Two little street beggars working together to infiltrate the Sterling bloodline[cite: 1].
Evelyn: Did you honestly believe our family lawyers wouldn't find out who you really were[cite: 1]?
Clara stood up, stepping between Daniel and Caris, her eyes blazing with pure, unyielding hatred[cite: 1].
Clara: We didn't infiltrate anything, Daniel. You pursued Caris at the charity gala! You begged her to marry you[cite: 1]!
Daniel: That was before my father's will was unsealed, Clara[cite: 1].
Caris: What does your father's will have to do with our marriage, Daniel[cite: 1]?
Daniel: My father left eighty million dollars in an irrevocable trust fund for my firstborn legal child[cite: 1].
Clara: And Caris is carrying that child right now[cite: 1]!
Daniel: Yes, but under clause nine of the trust, the mother of the child must belong to a verified registered family line[cite: 1].
Evelyn: If Daniel fathers a child with an unverified commoner, the entire eighty million dollars forfeits to charity[cite: 1].
Daniel: So you see, Caris, your little pregnancy was about to cost me my entire inheritance[cite: 1].
Caris: So you tried to kill our baby to save your money[cite: 1]?!
Daniel: I was just fixing a very expensive mistake[cite: 1].
Clara reached into her damp uniform apron, her bloody fingers closing around a thick manila folder wrapped in waterproof plastic[cite: 1].
Clara: You think my sister is an unverified commoner, Daniel[cite: 1]?
Daniel: Her parents were factory workers from Detroit who died in a trailer park fire, Clara. She is a nobody[cite: 1].
Clara: Pull that match away from your cigar, Daniel. Because what is inside this envelope will turn your whole world to ash[cite: 1].