Victoria: "You can't do this to us! I am the mother of your child's step-family! I have rights!"
Elena: "You lost your rights the moment you treated a baby like trash, Victoria."
Elena stood up from the leather chair, her dark eyes calm and unyielding as she looked Victoria straight in the face.
Elena: "For three months, I watched you degrade the staff in this house. You snapped your fingers at women old enough to be your mother. You threw food on the floor for us to clean up. And today, you almost ended a baby's life just to show off."
Victoria: "Shut up! You're nothing! You're just a girl who got lucky!"
Elena: "I didn't get lucky, Victoria. I survived. And now I'm going to make sure you never hurt another person in this house."
Two Dallas police officers stepped into the study from the hallway, their dark blue uniforms standing out against the warm wood paneling.
Officer Davis: "Victoria Cole?"
Victoria: "What is this?! Dad, do something!"
Officer Davis: "You are under arrest for felony child endangerment and reckless assault. Hands behind your back, ma'am."
Victoria: "Get your hands off me! Julian! Tell them to stop! I'll apologize! I'll go to therapy! Please!"
Julian turned his chair away, looking out the large window at the rain falling across the sprawling estate lawn. The officers pulled Victoria's arms behind her back, the cold metal handcuffs clicking shut around her manicured wrists.
Harold: "Julian, this will destroy my family's reputation in Dallas!"
Julian: "Your reputation was built on a lie, Harold. Just like mine was. Now get out of my office."
Harold slumped his shoulders, his face pale and broken as he followed the officers and his weeping daughter out into the hallway.
As the heavy study doors clicked shut, the silence returned to the room. Elena took a deep breath, looking at Julian as he slowly turned back around to face her.
Julian: "Are you okay, Elena?"
Elena: "I should be asking you that. Your whole life just changed in a single day."
Julian: "My life changed for the better the second you caught my son, Elena. For twenty-eight years, I thought I was alone in the world. Now I have a sister."
Elena: "And you have our mother's memory, Julian. She loved you every single day of her life. She never stopped looking for you."
Julian wiped a solitary tear from his cheek, a genuine, soft smile appearing on his face for the first time in years.
Julian: "Tell me about her, Elena. Tell me everything about our mother."