Clara’s hands jerked in horror, sending the porcelain teacup crashing violently across the gray Italian marble floor.
The hot amber liquid splashed over the polished stone, sizzling against the grout as sharp ceramic shards scattered under the island.
Julian: You crazy lunatic! Look at what you just broke!
Julian grabbed Maya’s forearm, trying to wrench her backward toward the back exit, but she kicked hard against his shins.
Maya: Touch me again and I will scream so loud the entire gated community hears me!
Clara: Julian, let go of her! Get your hands off her right now!
Clara stumbled back until her spine pressed hard against the refrigerator, both hands curling protectively over her rounded stomach.
Julian: Clara, do not listen to a single word coming out of her mouth. This is Maya, my late brother Richard’s ex-girlfriend.
Evelyn: She is an unstable trespasser looking for an extortion payout, Clara. Step away from her before she hurts you.
Maya: An extortion payout? Is that the pathetic lie you feed your pregnant wife, Evelyn?
Maya ripped her sleeve free from Julian’s grip and tossed a crumpled plastic bag onto the marble countertop.
Maya: Look at the bottles inside that bag, Clara! Pick them up and look at the labels!
Evelyn: Do not touch that trash! Julian, call the estate guards this second!
Clara stepped forward before Julian could block her path, her fingers shaking as she lifted a dark glass vial out of the plastic wrapper.
Clara: High-potency pennyroyal extract and veterinary hormone drops. What is this doing here?
Maya: I dug it out of the guest house trash bin behind the carriage garage fifteen minutes ago. Evelyn bought it with cash at an unlisted clinic across the state line.
Julian: She planted it! She snuck onto our property to fabricate evidence because she hates our family!
Clara: Why would anyone sneak into our home to plant toxic herbs, Julian?
Maya: Because of the family trust fund, Clara. Because your pregnancy destroys their entire financial scheme.
Evelyn’s face turned completely rigid, the blood draining from her cheeks as she pulled her designer leather handbag tighter against her ribs.
Evelyn: That trust fund is private family business. You have zero right to bring our legal affairs into this house.
Clara: Private business? Evelyn, I am carrying your grandchild! How could that possibly be a problem?
Maya: She does not want your child to take a single breath, Clara. If that baby is born alive, Julian loses control of forty million dollars.
Julian: Shut your mouth, Maya!
Maya: Tell her the truth, Julian! Tell your wife why you made her that tea!
Clara: What forty million dollars are you talking about? Julian, speak to me!
Julian stared at the shattered cup on the wet stone, his jaw working silently while a bead of sweat rolled down his collar.
Julian: Clara, she is twisting legal language she does not comprehend. My grandfather set up conditions that are complicated.
Clara: Then make it simple for me, Julian. Right now.
Maya: He will never tell you, Clara. But the legal documents in this folder will.