Victoria: You hit me! You struck the daughter of Marcus Vance!
Julian: I should have thrown you out the front gates months ago!
Victoria: I am your legal wife under Texas law, Julian! You can't touch me!
Julian: You are a monster who nearly drowned a six-year-old child in scalding water!
Victoria pushed herself up onto her elbows, her sparkly maroon dress twisting across the wet floor.
Victoria: She needed to learn discipline! You let her run wild in this mansion!
Emma: Daddy, she pulled my hair... She dragged me from my bedroom!
Julian knelt beside his daughter, gently running his fingers over her soaked forehead.
Julian: Did she hit you anywhere else, Emma? Tell Daddy the truth.
Emma: My arms hurt... She pinched me when I dropped a glass cup.
Julian rolled up Emma's wet cotton sleeves, exposing four dark purple finger bruises dug deep into her skin.
Julian: Look at this, Victoria. Look at what your hands did to my little girl.
Victoria: She bruises easily! She probably fell on the playground at school!
Julian: Emma hasn't been to school all week because you told me she had the flu!
Victoria: She was sick! I kept her home to rest!
Emma: I wasn't sick, Daddy! She locked me in the laundry room so I couldn't see you before work!
Julian felt a cold shiver run straight down his spine as he looked at the woman on the floor.
Julian: You kept my child locked in a windowless room while I ate breakfast?
Victoria: She was throwing tantrums, Julian! A mother has to set boundaries!
Julian: You are not her mother! You will never be her mother!
Victoria: Her real mother is rotting in a cemetery, Julian! Accept reality!
Julian stepped forward, his fists shaking with raw fury as he towered over her.
Julian: Clara had more grace and dignity in her little finger than your entire bloodline!
Victoria: Clara died broke! Her family had nothing until you married her!
Julian: Clara built the foundational logistics code that made Sterling Enterprises worth four billion dollars!
Victoria: Well, she left that empire behind, and now it belongs to us!
Julian: It will never belong to you, Victoria. Not a single cent.
Victoria sneered, pushing herself to her feet and leaning against the island counter.
Victoria: You signed the prenuptial agreement, Julian! If you divorce me, I get forty percent of the estate!
Julian: Did you actually read clause fourteen of that agreement, Victoria?
Victoria: My father's corporate attorneys drafted it! I know every word by heart!
Julian: Then you know what happens in cases of criminal felony abuse against a child.
Victoria's sneer began to crack, her eyes darting toward the hallway double doors.
Victoria: You can't prove abuse! It's your word and an imaginative child's word against mine!
Julian: Look up at the ceiling vent right above your head, Victoria.
Victoria froze, slowly tilting her head back to look at the brass decorative air grate.
A tiny green light pulsed steadily from behind the metal slats, recording every sound in the kitchen.
Julian: That camera has been live-streaming directly to the Dallas County Sheriff's office for the last ten minutes.
Victoria's hands dropped to her sides, the color draining from her face as the room fell deathly silent.