The private elevator rose smoothly to the penthouse suite on the top floor of the Grand Imperial Hotel. The doors opened into a spacious living room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the bright lights of the city skyline.
Lucia walked slowly into the room, looking around at the white marble floors, the plush velvet sofas, and the grand oil paintings on the walls. It was the same penthouse where she and Daniel had spent their first year of marriage before Evelyn tore them apart.
Lucia: Nothing has changed in here...
Daniel: I couldn't change anything, Lucia. Every time I looked at those sofas, I saw you sitting there reading your books. Every time I looked at the kitchen, I remembered us cooking dinner together late at night.
Lucia: Daniel... it feels like a lifetime ago.
Daniel: I know I failed you, Lucia. I should have searched the world for you. I should have questioned my mother's words from the very first second.
Lucia: She had forged bank receipts, Daniel. She had a fake medical report signed by a licensed doctor. Anyone would have believed her.
Daniel: But I was your husband. I promised to protect you, and I let my mother drive you into poverty and fear.
Daniel fell to his knees right in front of her, leaning his head against her apron as tears finally streamed down his face. His shoulders shook as he held her waist gently, careful not to press against her pregnant belly.
Daniel: Please forgive me, Lucia... Please give me a chance to be a father to our child.
Lucia looked down at the powerful CEO kneeling on the floor, weeping like a broken man. She slowly reached out, her fingers running through his dark hair, feeling the familiar warmth she had missed for six agonizing months.
Lucia: Stand up, Daniel. You don't need to kneel to me.
Daniel: I won't stand up until you tell me I can help you raise our baby.
Lucia: I never stopped loving you, Daniel. I was just terrified. Terrified that your mother would succeed in taking my baby away from me.
Daniel: She will never touch our child. She will spend the rest of her life behind bars, and I will use every dollar in the Sterling trust fund to make sure she never gets out on parole.
Lucia: What about the company? The press is going to throw a storm around your family name tomorrow morning.
Daniel: Let them write whatever they want. Tomorrow morning, I am stepping down as CEO of Sterling Enterprises.
Lucia: You're stepping down? But that company was your father's life work!
Daniel: My father's life work was corrupted by my mother's greed. I am placing the company under a professional trustee board, and I am taking a full leave of absence to be with you and our baby.
Victoria: That might be the smartest decision you've ever made, Daniel.
Victoria stepped out of the private elevator, carrying a hot cup of tea and a soft wool blanket. She walked over to Lucia and gently wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.
Victoria: I brought you some tea, Lucia. The hotel doctor is on his way up to give you a full checkup and make sure the baby is healthy after standing all day.
Lucia: Thank you, Victoria... I don't know what to say. I thought you wanted to marry Daniel.
Victoria: I wanted a business merger because my father pressured me into it. But I would never build my happiness on another woman's suffering. You are his wife, Lucia. And you are remarkably strong for enduring what you went through.
Lucia: I just wanted my baby to be safe.
Victoria: Your baby is going to have the best life imaginable. And if Evelyn's defense lawyers try any tricks in court, my father's legal team will join yours to make sure she stays in prison.
Daniel: Thank you, Victoria. For everything you did tonight in the ballroom.
Victoria: Don't thank me, Daniel. Just be the husband and father Lucia deserves from now on.