Maria: Check the nursery, Mr. Vance! Please, just go check on Lily right now!
Julian didn't answer. He turned on his heel and bounded up the marble stairs two at a time, heading straight toward the nursery at the end of the long hall. Victoria rushed after him, her high heels clicking loudly against the hardwood.
Victoria: Julian, wait! Don't disturb the baby, she’s sleeping after the terror this woman caused!
Maria pushed through the sharp pain in her bruised ribs, using the iron balustrade to pull herself up. She stumbled up the stairs behind them, determined not to let Victoria frame her for a crime that felt deeper and darker than a simple fake accident.
Julian: Lily? Sweetheart?
Julian pushed open the heavy wooden door to the nursery. The room was dim, the curtains drawn tight. Inside the wooden crib, baby Lily was fast asleep, breathing softly, completely unharmed.
Victoria: See? She's safe because I intercepted Maria on the balcony before she could carry out her real plan!
Julian: Victoria, if the baby was in the crib the whole time, why did you have a weighted doll wrapped in her blanket on the balcony?
Victoria: I... I was carrying the doll down to the donation box! I was holding the blanket and the doll to take to the charity center today!
Maria: You didn't say anything about donation boxes downstairs! You screamed that I tried to kill the baby!
Victoria: Because you grabbed the blanket from my hands and pushed it over the edge!
Maria: Why would I grab a blanket and jump down the stairs to catch it if I wanted to harm anyone?
Julian stood in the center of the nursery, looking between his panicked wife and the bruised, weeping maid standing in the doorway. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone.
Julian: I am calling our family lawyer and the police right now. Nobody leaves this house.
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