Victoria: Seal the gates?! Ethan, have you lost your mind?! I have a fitting for my bridal gown in an hour!
Ethan: Cancel it. You aren't going anywhere today.
Victoria: You cannot hold me prisoner in your mansion! That is false imprisonment!
Ethan: You are on private property, Victoria. And you are under investigation for felony child endangerment.
Victoria: Endangerment?! The child does not have a single scratch on him! He was lying on an expensive Italian rug!
Clara: He was lying on bare marble! You pulled the rug away because you said his drool would stain the wool!
Victoria: Shut up, you filthy little beggar! One more word out of your mouth and I will have my lawyers ruin your family!
Ethan: Threaten her again in my presence, Victoria, and see what happens to you.
Victoria scoffed, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. Her haughty expression returned, sharp and venomous.
Victoria: You think you scare me, Ethan? My family has been in high society for three generations. Your father made his fortune in freight shipping. You are new money, and you need my family's pedigree.
Ethan: I built a six-billion-dollar enterprise with my bare hands. I do not need a single dime from the Vance family.
Victoria: Then why did you ask me to marry you?
Ethan: Because I was a fool who believed you loved my son. I thought Toby needed a mother after Sarah died.
Victoria: Sarah is dead, Ethan! She has been in the ground for a year! Stop comparing me to a dead woman!
Clara: Mrs. Sarah never raised her voice at this baby. She loved him with every breath she had.
Victoria: Sarah was weak! That is why her heart gave out during childbirth!
Ethan’s hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist against Toby’s soft swaddling blanket.
Ethan: Do not speak my late wife's name with your filthy lips.
Victoria: Or what? You will call off the wedding? The press will eat you alive! Sterling Global stock will plunge ten percent by noon!
Ethan: Let it plunge fifty percent. I would burn every building I own before I let you spend another night under this roof.
Victoria: You are bluffing. You care too much about your boardroom reputation.
Ethan: Clara, come here. Take Toby up to my private office.
Clara: Yes, Mr. Sterling. Right away.
Clara stood up slowly, her knees trembling as she approached. Ethan carefully transferred the sleeping infant into her arms, making sure Toby’s head was supported against her shoulder.
Ethan: Lock the office door from the inside, Clara. Do not open it for anyone except me.
Clara: I will protect him with my life, sir.
Victoria: Look at her playing the hero! She is after your money, Ethan! She wants to replace me as your wife!
Clara: I don't want his money, Victoria. I just want this baby to grow up without bruises on his skin.
Clara turned and walked quickly toward the grand staircase, holding Toby tight against her chest. Victoria watched her leave, her fingernails digging into her palms until her skin broke.
Victoria: When this wedding goes through, Ethan, that girl will be living on the street. I will blackball her from every domestic agency in the state.
Ethan: This wedding is never going to happen, Victoria.
Victoria: We signed a legally binding contract! If you break our engagement without cause, the prenuptial agreement awards me forty million dollars in liquid cash!
Ethan: The keyword in that clause is 'without cause', Victoria.
Victoria: And what cause do you have? The word of a bruised maid? A court of law requires physical evidence!
Ethan smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes. Only cold, sharp steel.
Ethan: You think I left my only child alone in this estate for three days without checking on him?