Victoria: Marcus, please! We can settle this without the courts! I will sign a complete confession and leave Texas tonight!
Marcus: You aren't leaving Texas, Victoria. You are leaving in the back of a police transport van.
Victoria: You can't prove intent on the baby! A jury will see a tragic accident near a slippery pool!
Marcus: Look up at the stucco wall right above the terrace awning, Victoria.
Victoria slowly tilted her head back, her eyes landing on the white outdoor security dome mounted beneath the roofline.
A steady red light pulsed behind the dark glass, pointing directly at the center of the deep end.
Victoria: That camera was turned off! The maintenance supervisor told me the pool circuits were dead for tile repairs!
Marcus: The commercial lines were turned off, Victoria. The private executive satellite feeds record twenty-four hours a day.
Victoria: You... You put a covert surveillance camera pointed right at the pool?!
Marcus: I put a guardian to protect my son from a predator who wanted his inheritance.
Victoria: That recording violates my right to privacy! You cannot present that footage in a courtroom!
Marcus: Under Texas Penal Code Section 16.02, a property owner has every legal right to record to protect human life.
Victoria: I am a legal resident of this mansion! I have expectations of privacy!
Marcus: You have zero expectations of privacy when committing attempted capital murder against an infant.
Marcus pulled his smartphone from his pocket, tapping the screen and turning the bright display toward her face.
The high-definition footage played immediately, the crystal-clear audio echoing off the stone walls.
On the screen, Victoria stood between the two American flags, looking down at Toby in his blue swaddle.
Her cold voice boomed through the phone's speaker: "Take this child!"
Then the footage captured her deliberate forward shove, letting the baby plunge straight into the deep water.
Next came Elena sprinting into frame, diving into the pool, and dragging the child back to the surface.
Victoria clapped both hands over her ears, screaming in pure, suffocating terror.
Victoria: Turn it off! Turn that horrible video off right now!
Marcus: The Dallas County District Attorney reviewed this live feed fifteen minutes ago, Victoria.
Victoria: Marcus, please! Think of our social circle! Think of what our friends at the charity gala will say!
Marcus: Our friends at the charity gala will be reading your federal mugshot on the front page tomorrow morning.
Victoria: I will give up every dime of the inheritance! I will sign away all rights to the shipping firm!
Marcus: You don't have any rights to sign away, Victoria. You never did.
Victoria: My father's defense attorneys will have this warrant thrown out before sunset!
Marcus: Your father's attorneys were disqualified by the federal magistrate two hours ago, Victoria.
Victoria: Disqualified?! On what possible legal grounds?!
Marcus: On grounds of facilitating thirty million dollars in fraudulent offshore transfers through Panama.
Victoria backed away along the flagstones, her wet blue sequin gown dragging through puddles of chlorinated water.
Victoria: That thirty million was an authorized bridge loan for our maritime fuel reserves!
Marcus: That money was transferred to an account in the Cayman Islands registered under your maiden name.
Victoria: My father told me to open that account! He said it was an emergency family trust fund!
Marcus: Your father gave federal prosecutors every single email between you two this morning.
Victoria gasped, her hands shaking so hard that she nearly collapsed onto the wet stone.
Victoria: My father... gave them my personal emails?!
Marcus: He made a plea deal at ten o'clock this morning, Victoria. He traded you to save himself from life imprisonment.
Victoria: That coward! That selfish, disgusting old coward! He promised me he would protect me no matter what!
Elena: There is no honor among thieves, Victoria. You should have learned that a long time ago.
The heavy iron gates at the end of the long driveway groaned as they swung open.
The high-pitched wail of police sirens began to echo up the tree-lined avenue, growing louder by the second.
Flashing red and blue emergency lights swept across the white columns of the mansion, painting the patio in crimson strokes.
Victoria turned toward the side garden gate in pure, naked terror, but heavy tactical boots were already pounding across the patio.
Four uniformed police officers and two armed federal marshals marched onto the limestone pool deck.
Leading the squad was Detective Marcus Miller from the Dallas Police Major Crimes Division, his gold shield gleaming.
Detective Miller: Marcus Sterling? We received your emergency priority dispatch from corporate security.
Marcus: Over here, Detective Miller. The suspect is sitting right by the pool edge.
Victoria: Marcus Miller! Thank goodness it's you! Tell these patrolmen to stand down! This is a domestic dispute!
Detective Miller stopped three feet from Victoria, looking down at her soaked blue dress with cold disgust.
Detective Miller: Keep your hands visible, Mrs. Vance. Do not attempt to move.
Victoria: Do not call me a suspect! Marcus assaulted me! He pushed me into the swimming pool!
Detective Miller: Under Texas Penal Code Section 9.32, reasonable physical force is fully justified to defend an infant from violent felony assault.
Victoria: Nobody was assaulted! The baby slipped from my hands while I was adjusting his swaddle!
Detective Miller: We have the 4K security footage from your wall dome, Victoria. We watched you throw that child.
Victoria's jaw fell slack, her eyes darting between the armed officers as terror locked her throat.
Detective Miller: Victoria Vance, you are under arrest for attempted capital murder of a minor, premeditated homicide of Clara Sterling, and corporate wire fraud.
Victoria shrieked, stumbling backward toward the water as the officers moved in.