The gravel crunch ceased immediately as Adrian turned toward his son, his face tight with anger and confusion.
Adrian: Leo, stay out of this! Take your sister inside the house right now!
Leo: No, Dad! Look at the screen before you make the biggest mistake of your life!
Victoria: Leo, sweetheart, you're upset. Go to your room. Let the adults handle this dangerous woman.
Leo: Aunt Victoria, shut up! Dad, look at the screen!
Leo shoved the phone straight into Adrian's face, his finger tapping the replay button on a wide-angle video clip.
The high-definition footage showed the stone terrace from above, recorded by the high-resolution drone camera Leo had been flying over the lake.
Adrian: What am I looking at?
Leo: That's the terrace five minutes ago! Watch Aunt Victoria's feet!
On the screen, Claire had set the stroller down and turned her back for three seconds to pick up Lily’s fallen pacifier from the grass.
While Claire was kneeling, Victoria casually walked behind the rear wheels, looked directly toward the patio door, and kicked the brake lever upward with her designer heel before giving the handlebar a vicious shove.
Claire: Oh my God...
The video clearly captured Claire spinning around in terror, diving headfirst onto the jagged gravel, and jamming her fingers into the spinning spoke to halt the stroller.
Adrian's hands began to shake so violently he nearly dropped his daughter.
Adrian: Victoria... What did you just do?
Victoria: Adrian, listen to me, that video is taken from an angle that distorts perspective! I was trying to block the stroller with my foot!
Leo: You kicked the brake off! You shoved it toward the cliff!
Adrian: You shoved my infant daughter down a rock slope?
Victoria: I would never harm Lily! I wanted Claire out of this house! She was turning you against me!
Adrian: By risking my baby's life? Are you completely insane?
Victoria: She doesn't belong here! She's a low-class outsider who acts like she runs this entire estate!
Adrian: Claire saved Lily while you tried to kill her!
Victoria took a step back toward the patio steps, her manicured hands clutching her pearl necklace as her face turned pale gray.
Victoria: Adrian, you're overreacting! Nothing happened to the baby! Lily is fine!
Adrian: Nothing happened because Claire shredded her hands on the rock!
Adrian turned his eyes toward Claire, whose knees were dripping blood onto the stone pathway.
Adrian: Claire... I'm so, so sorry.
Claire: You were ready to put me in prison, Adrian.
Adrian: I was blind. I was a fool.
Leo: Dad, that's not even the worst part. Look at what Aunt Victoria's assistant sent me ten minutes ago.
Leo swiped the screen to an open email chain, holding it steady in front of his father's eyes.
Adrian: What is this? Why is there a probate filing attached to my corporate account?
Leo: Read the subject line, Dad. She’s trying to declare you legally unfit.
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