Charles: Victoria... what is the meaning of this video?
Victoria: Charles, darling, don't look at that! It's a fake video! She manipulated it with AI!
Maya: It is not fake, Mr. Vance! I recorded it from the kitchen pantry three minutes ago!
Charles: Stand up, Maya. Show me that phone screen again.
Maya pushed herself up from the cold marble floor, her left cheek swollen and red from the slap. She handed the smartphone directly to Charles, whose hand shook as he held the glass display.
Charles: This is my kitchen. This is my decanter. And that is your ring on her finger in the video, Victoria.
Victoria: Charles, please listen to me! I was adding liquid vitamins to your wine! Your doctor said you were deficient in potassium!
Maya: Vitamins don't come in a bottle marked with a skull symbol, Mr. Vance!
Charles: A skull symbol?! Where is the bottle, Victoria?!
Victoria: She's making things up! She's trying to destroy our marriage because I threatened to fire her last week!
Charles: You slapped a helpless girl in my dining room, Victoria! Why would you react like a cornered animal if you had nothing to hide?!
Victoria: I reacted because she disrupted a formal dinner in front of our guests!
Charles set his champagne glass down on the table so hard the stem nearly snapped against the wood. He stood up slowly, using his silver-topped cane for balance as his tall frame loomed over his wife.
Charles: Where is the dark bottle you used in the kitchen, Victoria?
Victoria: I don't know what you're talking about! There is no dark bottle!
Maya: She hid it inside her designer clutch bag on the side sideboard, Mr. Vance!
Victoria: Shut your mouth, you little rat!
Victoria lunged toward Maya with her nails raised, but Charles stepped firmly into her path, blocking her with his cane.
Charles: Don't you dare lay another hand on her in my presence!
Victoria: Charles! You are taking the word of a twenty-two-year-old maid over your devoted wife of five years?!
Charles: I am taking the evidence of my own eyes! Hand over your handbag right now!
Victoria: No! You have no right to search my personal property!
Charles: This mansion belongs to the Vance Family Trust, funded by my late wife's estate! Every inch of this house belongs to me!
Victoria: I am your legal wife! I have rights in this house!
Charles: You won't have any rights if that video proves you attempted to murder me at my own dining table!
Charles reached over to the velvet-covered sideboard and picked up Victoria's bronze leather clutch. He unzipped the golden clasp and turned the bag upside down over the white tablecloth. A compact mirror, three lipsticks, a gold credit card, and a small dark brown glass bottle rolled out across the polished wood.
Charles: What is this bottle, Victoria?
Victoria: It's... it's essential oils! Herbal drops for my headaches!
Charles: Essential oils don't have a prescription label from a medical lab in Mexico!
Maya: Look at the label, Mr. Vance! It says odorless liquid toxin!
Victoria: You planted that in my bag! You slipped it in while I was in the powder room!
Charles: Maya was setting the table in front of three other staff members for the last hour, Victoria! She never went near your bag!
Victoria: Charles, sweetheart, please... you're confusing yourself! You know your memory hasn't been sharp lately!
Charles: My memory is sharp enough to remember that you asked my estate lawyer about my life insurance policy yesterday morning!