By noon that afternoon, news of Clara's arrest had spread through the high-society circles of Dallas like wildfire.
Daniel was sitting in his executive office at Vance Financial Enterprises when his oak doors burst open without warning.
Richard Montgomery, Clara's wealthy father, stormed into the room with his face red with fury, followed closely by two security guards who were trying to hold him back.
Richard: Daniel! Have you completely lost your mind?!
Daniel: Stand down, boys. Leave Mr. Montgomery in here with me.
Security Officer: Yes, Mr. Vance. We'll be right outside the door if you need us.
Richard: You had my daughter dragged out of your home in handcuffs like a common street criminal!
Daniel: Your daughter burned my eight-year-old child's scalp with a flat iron, Richard. She is lucky she left my property in a police cruiser instead of an ambulance.
Richard: It was a household accident! Clara was nervous about the family media shoot! She's never raised a child before!
Daniel: Inexperienced mothers don't hold down screaming children while smoke pours off their hair, Richard.
Richard: You put cameras in her private bathroom! That is illegal wiretapping! My defense lawyers will have that footage thrown out of court in five minutes!
Daniel: The cameras were installed by a licensed security firm to monitor household staff in common suite areas. The judge has already reviewed the tape and deemed it fully admissible evidence.
Richard: You think you can destroy my daughter's reputation over a minor domestic dispute?!
Daniel: I don't need to destroy her reputation. The district attorney just upgraded her charges to felony child abuse with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Richard slammed his heavy fist down on Daniel's glass desk, his chest heaving under his tailored suit coat.
Richard: I will pull every political favor I have in the state of Texas to ruin you, Daniel! I will crush your financial firm!
Daniel: You can't even pay the property taxes on your own estate, Richard.
Daniel pulled a thick folder from his desk drawer and tossed it directly onto the glass tabletop.
Daniel: Take a look at those documents. Your real estate company owes Vance Capital forty-two million dollars in short-term bridge loans.
Richard: We... we have an agreement! You agreed to extend the maturity date until next spring!
Daniel: That extension was contingent on Clara maintaining a peaceful marriage with me under our prenuptial agreement.
Richard: You can't call in a forty-two million dollar note with six hours' notice!
Daniel: Check clause fourteen on page twelve, Richard. In the event of criminal charges filed against your family members, full repayment is due immediately upon written demand.
Richard: This is financial execution! You're trying to bankrupt my entire bloodline!
Daniel: You raised a cruel daughter who thought she could abuse a motherless child because she felt safe behind your family's money.
Daniel: Today, I am taking that money away from both of you.
Richard stared at the legal documents on the desk, his hands shaking violently as he realized the sheer scale of the trap he had walked into.
Richard: Daniel... please... Clara made a horrible mistake. Let me send her to a private treatment facility out of state. We can settle this quietly without ruining our families!
Daniel: The time for quiet settlements ended when my daughter cried for her daddy while her skin burned.
Richard: You have no mercy in your heart, do you?
Daniel: Not for people who hurt my daughter. Get out of my office, Richard.
Richard: If I go down, I will take your company's stock price down with me! I will tell the press you pushed my daughter into a bathtub!
Daniel: Go ahead and talk to the press. The camera footage shows me pushing her away after she tried to assault my staff member.
Daniel: The media will love seeing a billionaire father defend his child against a abusive stepmother.
Richard opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He turned around slowly, looking completely broken, and shuffled out of the executive office like an old man who had lost everything in a single hour.