When Damian reached the top of the stairs with his mother, Victoria was standing in the middle of the passage holding a thick manila folder filled with legal papers in her right hand. Her eyes shifted wildly between Damian and the weak elderly woman leaning heavily against his shoulder. The fake polish she had maintained all morning had completely dissolved, leaving behind a sharp, desperate look of pure anger.
Victoria: You should not have meddled in this, Damian! This was supposed to be settled quietly before we reached the dock!
Damian: You locked my mother in an engine room, Victoria! Have you completely lost your mind?
Victoria: She was going to cut me out of the estate completely! I worked for five years to build up this company's image, and she was going to leave everything in a locked private trust that I could never touch!
Damian: It is her money and her business! She earned every single dollar long before you ever set foot in our house!
Victoria stepped forward, pointing her finger right at Damian's chest while clutching the legal folder tight against her ribs.
Victoria: I am your wife! Everything she owns belongs to us, and I was not going to let a stubborn old woman ruin our financial future because of her outdated ideas!
Evelyn raised her head, her voice steady and clear despite her physical weakness as she looked at her daughter-in-law.
Evelyn: You never cared about Damian or this family, Victoria. You only cared about the wealth and the status that came with my son's name.
Victoria: Shut up! Just sign the paper, Evelyn, or nobody is leaving this boat when we hit the dock!
Damian: The captain has already locked the bridge controls, Victoria. The Coast Guard is on their way to intercept us right now.
Victoria's face turned pale as the realization hit her. She looked toward the salon windows, where the blue horizon showed the approaching skyline of Miami in the afternoon sun. She stepped back, looking for an escape route, but the narrow deck passage left her with nowhere to go.
Victoria: You would ruin your own family name just to protect her? Think about what a public arrest will do to our reputation and our stock price!
Damian: The only thing I care about right now is protecting my mother from a greedy monster. Our marriage is completely over, Victoria.
Damian guided Evelyn past his wife toward the main salon, ignoring Victoria's angry shouts as she followed them down the central corridor. The guests looked up in terror as Damian brought his pale mother into the room and helped her sit down comfortably on a soft leather sofa near the front windows.