Liam: Mom... How could you do this[cite: 1]?
Liam’s voice cracked as he stared up at the second floor, his knees still planted on the cold stone[cite: 1].
The baby wailed loudly, her tiny face flushed red beneath the lace bonnet[cite: 1].
Eleanor: Do not look at me like that, Liam. I did what had to be done to protect your father's estate.
Liam: You tried to kill my daughter! You threw an infant over a forty-foot railing[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: She isn't your daughter! She was conceived to steal our corporate shares!
Clara: Look at the paper, Eleanor! Look at what came in the certified mail today[cite: 1]!
Clara held the white sheet high, her voice trembling with raw, burning anger[cite: 1].
Eleanor: I don't care about whatever forged trash you printed at the public library, Clara.
Liam: Clara, take the baby. Hold her tight.
Liam stood up slowly from the marble floor, his grey suit trousers covered in chalky dust from the slide[cite: 1].
He carefully placed the crying infant into Clara’s waiting arms, pulling the soft blanket over the child's head[cite: 1].
Clara: Liam, be careful. She has estate security waiting outside.
Liam: Security works for me now. Hold our daughter.
Liam turned away from Clara, his eyes locking onto the spiral staircase with lethal, unyielding fury[cite: 1].
His leather dress shoes struck the marble steps in rapid, heavy thuds as he took the stairs three at a time[cite: 1].
Eleanor: Liam, stop running up those stairs like a madman! Have some dignity!
Liam: Dignity?! You talk to me about dignity after what you just did[cite: 1]?!
Liam reached the second-floor landing in seconds, his tall frame cutting through the sunlight near the railing[cite: 1].
Eleanor smoothed down the front of her navy blazer, lifting her chin with stubborn, arrogant pride[cite: 1].
Eleanor: I am your mother, Liam. You will respect me in my own mansion.
Liam: How could you try to kill my daughter[cite: 1]?!
Before Eleanor could utter another syllable, Liam stepped forward and swung his open right hand with ferocious force[cite: 1].
A thunderous, echoing crack shattered the silence of the high hallway[cite: 1].
Eleanor’s head snapped violently to the side, her body stumbling backward against the decorative wall trim[cite: 1].
She clutched her burning red, swollen cheek in complete shock and horror, staring at her only son with wide, terrified eyes[cite: 1].
Eleanor: You... you struck your own mother? Over a bastard child?
Liam: Call her a bastard again, and you will leave this house in handcuffs!
Eleanor: She isn't a Bennett! The private lab report confirmed it three days ago!
Clara: Which lab, Eleanor?! The one you paid five hundred thousand dollars to fabricate[cite: 1]?!
Clara walked up the lower curve of the grand staircase, cradling the newborn while waving the legal report[cite: 1].
Eleanor: My lab is state-certified! Dr. Harrison handles all Bennett trust verifications!
Liam: Dr. Harrison was arrested at his downtown clinic an hour ago, Mother.
Eleanor's breath caught in her throat, the color draining from her skin until she looked like chalk[cite: 1].
Eleanor: Arrested? For what? Harrison is a pillar of the medical community!
Liam: He was arrested for corporate bribery, falsifying legal records, and practicing medicine without a valid license.
Clara: And this report in my hand didn't come from your paid crony, Eleanor. It came from the State Forensic Bureau[cite: 1].
Liam took the document from Clara's hand, holding it right in front of Eleanor's trembling nose[cite: 1].
Liam: Read the first line, Mother. Read it out loud so every servant in this hallway hears it.
Eleanor adjusted her reading glasses with a shaking hand, her eyes darting across the dark ink[cite: 1].
Liam: Read it!
Eleanor: Probability of paternity... ninety-nine point nine nine percent...
Eleanor gasped, her knees wobbling beneath her navy skirt as the paper trembled in the air[cite: 1].
Liam: She is my biological daughter. And she was named the primary beneficiary of Father's trust before he died.
Eleanor slumped against the mahogany wall table, her red cheek throbbing as the heavy doors below clicked open[cite: 1].