Julian rushed across the polished hallway, dropping heavily to his knees beside Chloe on the oak floor. He carefully lifted her shoulders, pulling her sticky face against his clean suit jacket while gently checking her arms for fresh injuries.
Julian: What is happening here? What did you do to my wife?
Evelyn: Julian, darling! Thank goodness you're back! This ungrateful girl threw a tantrum and knocked herself out of her wheelchair!
Chloe: Julian... help me... please...
Julian: Get away from her, Evelyn!
Julian looked up at his mother with cold eyes while holding Chloe securely in his arms. He could feel her whole body shaking violently against his chest.
Julian: Chloe, look at me. Are you okay? Where does it hurt?
Chloe: My arm... she forced me to drink it again, Julian...
Julian: What was in that glass, Evelyn?
Evelyn: It was just fresh orange juice! Her doctor said she needed vitamin C for her recovery!
Clara: That's a lie! Mr. Vance, please listen to me!
Evelyn: Shut your mouth, Clara! You are a maid in this house! You do not speak to my son!
Julian: Shut up, Mother! Clara, speak right now. What was in that glass?
Clara: She put three crushed white pills into the juice, sir! I saw her crush them with a heavy metal spoon in the kitchen five minutes ago!
Evelyn gasped, stepping backward while shaking her head in denial. Julian turned his gaze toward the maid, listening carefully to every single word she offered.
Evelyn: She's lying, Julian! She's trying to ruin our family because I threatened to cut her wages last week!
Julian: What pills were they, Evelyn? Chloe doesn't have any white pill prescriptions!
Evelyn: They were simple supplements! Her nerves have been unstable since the car accident!
Chloe: She's been giving them to me every single day since you left for New York... every time I drink it, my legs go completely numb...
Julian turned his head slowly to look at his weeping wife. His hands were shaking as he cradled her head against his chest.
Julian: What did you say, Chloe?
Chloe: I was starting to feel my toes again last week... but every morning after she gives me that juice, I can't move my legs at all...
Julian: The doctor told me three weeks ago that her nerve damage was healing. He said she should be walking by now.
Evelyn: Doctors make mistakes all the time! You know how complicated spinal injuries are!
Julian: Pick up those papers on the floor, Clara.
Clara quickly knelt down on the hardwood floor, gathering the scattered white papers into a neat pile before handing them directly to Julian. Julian scanned the top document, his jaw tightening in disbelief as he read the official court headers printed at the top.
Julian: What are these medical records? These aren't from our family hospital. This is a psychiatric evaluation report signed by a private clinic in New Jersey. Why is my wife's name on a mental incompetence filing?
Evelyn: Give those back to me! Those are private documents!
Julian: You were trying to have her declared mentally unfit to handle her inheritance trust fund! My father left that trust specifically to Chloe's late mother! Chloe is the sole legal beneficiary!
Evelyn: She is weak! She cannot manage a forty-million-dollar real estate portfolio!
Julian: So you poisoned her? You kept her paralyzed so she couldn't sign her own estate documents?
Julian pulled his cell phone from his pocket with a deadly, quiet focus, immediately dialing a direct private number.
Julian: Dr. Roberts, bring the mobile toxicology unit to the Vance mansion immediately. And bring two police escorts.