"Poor thing kept meowing for you while you were in the hospital," Victoria said with a pout. "Alexander said she was distressing me and the baby."
My legs nearly gave out beneath me.
She scrolled through her gallery. "Want to see something interesting? Remember when your brother was dying and you begged Alexander to use his connections to get him into that experimental treatment program?"
She turned the screen toward me, revealing a video of herself and Alexander in bed.
"This was taken the exact moment you were calling him from the hospital. Listen—"
From the recording, I heard my desperate voice: "Alexander, please, the doctor says James only has hours left. I just need you to sign the approval as his financial guarantor."
Then Alexander's dismissive reply: "Can't it wait until morning? Victoria and I are in the middle of something."
She paused the video, smirking. "He never told you why he didn't make it to the hospital in time, did he? We were testing out that fancy swing he installed in the guest house."
Fighting back tears, I walked past Victoria, clutching my brother's urn tightly against my chest.
"Where do you think you're going? I'm not finished with you yet!"
She ran forward, grabbing for the urn. We struggled briefly before she wrenched it from my grasp and ran toward the pool area.
"Let's see how much you care about your precious brother now!"
Before I could reach her, she threw the urn into the deep end of the pool and my brother's ashes dispersed in the water.
Victoria's laugh echoed behind me. "Oops! Looks like big brother's going down the drain!"
In that moment, blind with grief and rage, I turned toward her.
She must have seen something terrifying in my expression because she suddenly stepped back, her foot catching on a pool chair.
With a surprised shriek, she toppled backward into the shallow end of the pool.
"Help!" she screamed. "I can't swim! The baby!"
Without thinking, I dove in after her.
Though I couldn't swim well myself, I managed to reach her, I couldn't let her harm the innocent child she carried, regardless of how much I despised her.
Instead of accepting my help, Victoria grabbed my shoulders and forced me under.
"Alexander!" she screamed. "Help me! She's trying to drown me!"
Through the water, I could see Alexander sprinting toward the pool.