The bright Texas sun streamed into the white marble kitchen of the Sterling mansion in Dallas, lighting up the crystal chandelier overhead. Standing by the sink, twenty-four-year-old Sarah wiped away hot tears with the edge of her white apron. Her simple black maid dress was damp at the collar, and her shoulders shook with quiet, helpless sobs.
A few feet away stood Evelyn Sterling, dressed in a sweeping dark green gown. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest, her strict face showing no pity at all as she glared at the crying girl.
Evelyn: Stop your sniffling this instant, Sarah. You are here to work, not to cry like a child over spilt milk.
Sarah: Mrs. Sterling, please... it was an accident. I didn't mean to drop the dish.
Evelyn: That antique plate cost more than your yearly salary! You will pay for every single piece, even if I have to dock your wages for the next five years!
Sarah: I barely have enough money to buy medicine for my little sister! Please don't take my paycheck!
Evelyn: Then you should have been more careful with my family's heirloom! Now dry your eyes and scrub the floor before the dinner guests arrive!
Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the kitchen swung open. The loud sound of wheels rolling across the polished marble floor broke the silence. A handsome young man in a crisp white dress shirt pushed his black leather suitcase into the room, stopping dead in his tracks.
Evelyn: Liam, what are you doing here?
Liam stared at his mother in complete disbelief, then looked over at Sarah, whose face was stained with dark mascara and fresh tears.
Liam: What is going on here?!
Evelyn: Liam, sweetie, you weren't supposed to be home from your Chicago business trip until tomorrow evening!
Liam: Answer my question, Mother! Why is Sarah crying at the sink, and why are you yelling at her like that?
Evelyn: She broke a family heirloom, Liam. I am simply enforcing house rules.
Liam: Enforcing rules? You look like you're tormenting her!
Liam set his suitcase handle down with a heavy thud, taking three fast steps across the marble island toward the trembling maid, his eyes burning with outrage as he prepared to unearth the dark secret his mother had been hiding for months.