The crack of the slap rang across the vaulted dining hall like a gunshot, freezing every guest at the tables[cite: 1].
Victoria stumbled backward, clutching her bright red, stinging cheek with trembling hands as her wine glass shattered against the floor[cite: 1].
Victoria: You struck me! In front of the board of directors?!
Ethan: You are lucky I don't throw you off this estate myself!
Victoria: Ethan, look at her! She is wearing clothes from a charity bin!
Ethan: She is the woman you told me was buried in an unmarked grave five years ago, Victoria.
Victoria: She abandoned you! She took ten million dollars from your family trust and ran off to Europe!
Clara: I never took a single dollar from Ethan, Victoria!
Clara stood up slowly from the marble floor, keeping Toby pressed securely behind her back[cite: 1].
Clara: You drugged my tea at the country club, locked me in a private medical ward in Boston, and forged my signature on an adoption waiver!
Victoria: That is a disgusting lie! Ethan, she is clinically insane! Call the police!
Ethan: The police are already outside, Victoria. I invited them myself.
Victoria’s jaw dropped open, all the color draining from her face[cite: 1].
Victoria: What... what do you mean you invited them?
Ethan: Did you really think I believed your fake car crash report when Clara's dental records never matched the body found in the river?
Victoria: The coroner signed the death certificate! Your father verified the dental files!
Ethan: My father signed whatever you put in front of him because you threatened to foreclose on his maritime logistics firm!
The dining hall erupted into loud, shocked murmurs as senior corporate executives began standing up from their chairs[cite: 1].
Board Member Davis: Ethan, is this true?! Was Clara alive this entire time?!
Ethan: Clara was trapped under a false identity in a private care clinic owned by the Vance family.
Victoria: She was receiving psychiatric treatment! She was unfit to be a mother to a billionaire heir!
Clara: I had postpartum depression, Victoria! You turned a temporary medical condition into a five-year prison sentence so you could marry Ethan and steal my inheritance!
Toby clutched Clara's coat with both hands, his tiny face buried against her waist[cite: 1].
Toby: Daddy, don't let the red lady take Mommy away! The red lady locks me in the attic when you fly to Chicago!
Ethan froze, his posture turning rigid as he looked down at his son[cite: 1].
Ethan: What did you just say, Toby?
Toby: She locks me in the dark room on the third floor... She told me if I cried, Mommy’s ghost would never come back.
Ethan slowly turned his head back toward Victoria, his dark eyes burning with pure, lethal rage[cite: 1].
Ethan: You locked my seven-year-old child in an attic while I was out of town?!
Victoria: Ethan, he is exaggerating! He was playing hide-and-seek and locked the door from the inside!
Clara: Toby doesn't even know where the attic key is kept, Victoria!
Victoria: Shut up, you worthless tramp! You have no rights in this house!
Ethan: Clara is my legal wife, Victoria. Our marriage was never legally dissolved because her death certificate was fraudulent from day one.
Victoria took two frantic steps backward, her high heels catching on the shattered glass of her red wine flute[cite: 1].
Victoria: That's impossible! We signed a prenuptial agreement yesterday afternoon!
Ethan: A prenuptial agreement requires a single man, Victoria. I was never a widower.