Mark: Put that phone down, Clara! I'm warning you!
Clara: Yes, I need an emergency response unit at the Sterling Tower penthouse. A man just threw a heavy ceramic plate at my head.
Mark: Hang up the phone, you crazy woman!
Mark lunged across the table, his hand reaching out to grab the smartphone from her fingers, but Clara didn't even flinch. She simply tilted her head back, keeping the cloth pressed against her bleeding cut.
Clara: The suspect is Mark Sterling. Send two units immediately. I am bleeding heavily.
Evelyn: Clara, sweetie, please! We can handle this internally! Mark just lost his temper because of the corporate merger!
Clara: He didn't lose his temper, Evelyn. He committed felony domestic assault.
Mark: You think the police are going to arrest me in my own building? My family owns forty percent of this city's real estate group!
Clara: You own buildings, Mark. You don't own the law.
Mark slammed his fist onto the mahogany table, making the wine glasses rattle.
Mark: I pay the police chief's salary through our charity foundation! Do you really think a beat officer is going to handcuff me because you got a tiny scratch?
Clara: This isn't a scratch, Mark. Blood is dripping onto my shoes.
Evelyn: Mark, sit down and shut up! Let me talk to her!
Evelyn rushed around the table, pulling a silk handkerchief from her sleeve and trying to hand it to Clara.
Evelyn: Clara, please, look at me. If the news gets wind of an arrest tonight, the board of directors will freeze Mark's executive voting shares tomorrow morning!
Clara: Good. He shouldn't be running a company if he can't control his fists.
Evelyn: We can give you whatever you want! You want a bigger allowance? A new luxury car? Name your price!
Clara: You think my blood has a price tag, Evelyn?
Mark: Don't offer her a single cent, Mom! She married me for my family's money anyway! She was just a quiet schoolteacher when I met her!
Clara: I never asked you for a dime of your family money, Mark.
Mark: Then sign the trust fund waiver! My firm needs fifty million dollars by tomorrow morning to clear the bank audit!
Clara: That trust fund belongs to my father's estate. It was never yours to touch.
Mark: You are my wife! Everything you own belongs to me under state law!
Clara: Check the prenuptial agreement your own lawyers drafted three years ago, Mark. Clause twelve specifically states that any inheritance brought into the marriage remains separate property.
Mark's face turned beet red. He stepped over the shattered ceramic pieces on the floor, coming around the edge of the dining table until he was standing right over her.
Mark: I don't care about a piece of paper! You're going to call the dispatcher back and tell them it was an accident, or I'll make sure you never leave this apartment!
Clara: Are you threatening me again, Mark?
Mark: I'm telling you how things are going to be!
Clara set the blood-soaked napkin on the table. The deep cut above her eyebrow was still bleeding, but her eyes were completely calm. She looked past Mark toward the hallway as the distant sound of sirens began to echo through the rain outside.
Clara: You hear that, Mark? That's the sound of your legacy falling apart.