Maya stepped between Clara and Julian, her arms crossed firmly against her chest, her jaw set like stone.
Maya: He does not like women raising their voices, Clara. That is exactly how he reacted when Richard confronted him two years ago.
Julian: Leave Richard out of your miserable mouth! My brother died in a tragic car accident on the turnpike!
Maya: Richard died three days after he discovered that Evelyn had forged his signature on the offshore bank transfers!
Evelyn: That investigation was closed by state troopers! You are bordering on criminal slander, young woman!
Clara: Wait. Maya... what happened when you were with Richard?
Maya looked down at the dark amber puddle spreading across the white marble floor, her lower lip trembling.
Maya: I was eight weeks pregnant with Richard’s baby when we lived in the carriage house on this property.
Julian: Here we go again with the ancient sob story.
Maya: Evelyn brought me a thermos of hot herbal broth every single afternoon during my first month. She smiled and told me it was an old family remedy to prevent morning sickness.
Clara: Oh God... no.
Maya: Within forty-eight hours, I suffered severe uterine hemorrhaging. The doctors at the county hospital told me I had lost the pregnancy due to toxic plant toxicity, but I was too heartbroken to suspect them.
Evelyn: You had an unfortunate natural miscarriage because your body was weak, Maya. Stop blaming loving family members for your own failures.
Maya: It was not a failure! I found the empty apothecary vials hidden behind Evelyn's vanity mirror yesterday when I came to collect Richard's remaining belongings!
Julian: You broke into my mother's private bedroom? That is a class-three felony burglary!
Maya: Go ahead and report it to the sheriff, Julian! Bring the detectives into this kitchen right now and let them test the puddle on your marble floor!
Julian froze, his hand hovering over his phone as his eyes darted from Maya to the spilled tea.
Clara: Why aren't you dialing the police, Julian? If she broke in and stole things, call them right now.
Julian: Clara, we do not need local squad cars parked outside our gates ruining our reputation before the board meeting tomorrow.
Clara: You do not care about your brother. You do not care about this baby. You only care about the forty million dollars and your public image.
Evelyn: Julian built this family empire back from the brink of ruin after his father passed away! He protects our legacy!
Clara: By poisoning the women who carry your family blood?
Evelyn: You were nobody when Julian met you, Clara! A kindergarten assistant drowning in your mother's unpaid medical bills!
Julian: Mother, stop talking.
Evelyn: No, Julian, she needs to understand her place! We paid off your mother's hospice debts! We gave you couture dresses and diamond tennis bracelets!
Clara: You bought me expensive clothes so I would play the role of the smiling socialite wife while you waited for your inheritance clock to run out!
Julian: Clara, that is entirely untrue. I love you. I wanted to start a family after we secured the company finances next year!
Clara: Then prove it to me, Julian. Prove to me that there was nothing dangerous in that cup.
Clara pointed a trembling finger toward the stainless steel kettle still resting warm on the center burner of the gas stove.
Clara: Pour yourself a full mug of the tea remaining in that kettle and drink it right in front of us.