Victoria: A private investigator? Nathan, you were spying on me in my own home?
Nathan: I was investigating why my daughter's trust fund was missing fifty thousand dollars every single month.
Victoria: That was... that was for estate maintenance! The roof needed repairs, and the garden staff—
Nathan: The garden staff hasn't been paid in two months, Victoria! I talked to the head gardener yesterday before I even boarded my flight back to the states!
Victoria: He's lying! They're all conspiring against me because they hate that I took over as mistress of this house!
Nathan: Stand up, Victoria. Get away from my island.
Victoria stumbled backward, pressing her back against the kitchen cabinets as she wiped the blood from her lip with the back of her hand. Her expensive silk dress was rumpled, her red hair wild, but her eyes were still full of desperate, bitter defiance.
Victoria: You can't just throw me out! I am a prominent member of the city council! If the press finds out you struck me, your company's stock value will plummet by tomorrow morning!
Nathan: Let it plummet. I have enough capital to buy and sell you ten times over. But you? You won't have a single dollar left by the time my divorce lawyer gets through with you.
Victoria: Your lawyer can't touch my personal accounts!
Nathan: Those aren't your personal accounts, Victoria. Those are stolen corporate funds from my late wife's estate.
Elena: Nathan... please don't fight with her in front of Maya. She's still shaking.
Nathan: You're right. Elena, take Maya upstairs to the master suite. My personal doctor is already on his way to check her over and make sure she doesn't have any bruises.
Elena: Thank you, Nathan. Come on, sweetie, let's go get some fresh air upstairs.
Maya: Is Daddy coming with us?
Nathan: I'll be right up in five minutes, baby girl. I just have to take out the trash first.
Maya nodded tearfully, holding her mother's hand tightly as Elena helped her off the floor. They walked past Victoria, who glared at them with pure hatred, though she didn't dare make a move with the two security officers standing directly behind Nathan.
Victoria: You think you're so noble, don't you? Bringing your dead wife's sister into this house, letting her live here like she's royalty while treating me like an outsider!
Nathan: Elena is Clara's sister. She is Maya's aunt, and she has taken care of my daughter with more love and grace than you could ever dream of possessing!
Victoria: She's a maid! She wears a uniform because she couldn't even afford her own apartment after Clara died!
Nathan: She wears that uniform because she insisted on earning her keep instead of accepting my charity! Unlike you, who married me specifically to clear your family's massive gambling debts!
Victoria gasped, her jaw dropping open as the secret she had hidden for two years was laid bare on the kitchen floor.