Julian: Vanessa... this child carries your genetic birthmark[cite: 1]. You can't deny this[cite: 1].
Vanessa: Lots of people have red birthmarks, Julian! It's just a coincidence!
Julian: A star-shaped birthmark on the left collarbone isn't a coincidence, Vanessa! It's the exact mark your family has bragging rights about for three generations!
Grandmother Beatrice: Vanessa Sterling, you listen to me right now! Did you carry a child to term and abandon him in a hospital alley?!
Vanessa: Grandmother, you don't understand the pressure I was under! If the press found out I was pregnant before our corporate wedding, our stock prices would have plummeted!
Julian: So you threw your own newborn baby into a dumpster like trash to protect a stock price?!
Vanessa: I paid a private nurse fifty thousand dollars to drop the child off at a safe-haven cradle inside the hospital! I didn't know she threw him behind a dumpster!
Maya: The nurse didn't throw him away[cite: 1]. You did[cite: 1]. I watched you drive away in your red sports car from the alley door[cite: 1].
Vanessa's breath hitched in her throat as she stared at the dirty ten-year-old girl[cite: 1]. Her carefully constructed mask of elegance and high-class perfection shattered into a million pieces right in front of her wealthiest peers[cite: 1].
Vanessa: You... you saw my car?
Maya: I saw your shiny red car with the custom license plate that says 'STERLING'[cite: 1]. I wrote down the numbers on my hand with a pen[cite: 1].
Maya raised her small, dirt-covered left hand, showing the black ink numbers clearly written across her palm[cite: 1].
Julian: You lied to me for months[cite: 1]. You lied to my family[cite: 1]. You abandoned a helpless baby in the freezing cold[cite: 1].
Vanessa: Julian, please! The child wasn't yours anyway! It was a mistake from a weekend in Miami before we got engaged!
Grandmother Beatrice: Silence! Not another word out of your mouth, you wicked girl!
Grandmother Beatrice's royal blue dress rustled as she marched down the marble steps, her walking cane thumping hard against the floor[cite: 1]. She stood directly beside Julian, staring at Vanessa with absolute contempt and disgust[cite: 1].
Grandmother Beatrice: The Sterling-Vance corporate merger is officially canceled[cite: 1]. Effective this very second[cite: 1].
Vanessa: Grandmother Beatrice, no! My father's firm will go bankrupt if the merger doesn't sign today!
Grandmother Beatrice: Then let your father's firm rot in bankruptcy! Our family estate will never align itself with a monster who throws her own blood into the dirt[cite: 1]!
Julian: Arthur! Where is my estate attorney?!
Arthur, the family lawyer in a crisp gray suit, stepped out from the front row of guests, holding his leather briefcase[cite: 1].
Arthur: I am right here, Julian[cite: 1].
Julian: Tear up the prenuptial agreement and the wedding marriage license immediately[cite: 1].
Arthur: Already done, sir[cite: 1]. Neither document was executed, which means no legal union ever took place today[cite: 1].
Vanessa: You can't do this to me! My family spent two million dollars hosting this wedding in your palace!
Julian: You can send the bill to your criminal defense attorney, Vanessa[cite: 1]. Because you're going to need one[cite: 1].
Sirens began to wail in the distance, growing louder as blue and red lights flashed through the tall stained-glass windows of the palace concourse[cite: 1].
Maya: That's the police and the ambulance[cite: 1]. I told the 911 operator to bring a doctor for the baby[cite: 1].
Julian: You did the right thing, Maya[cite: 1]. You are braver than anyone sitting in this room today[cite: 1].
Julian reached out and gently placed his hand on Maya's shoulder, looking at the newborn baby sleeping peacefully in her arms[cite: 1].
Julian: Is the baby healthy, Maya?
Maya: He was cold when I found him, but I kept him inside my coat for three days and fed him formula I bought with bottle recycling money[cite: 1]. He's a strong little boy[cite: 1].
Julian: You paid for his formula with your bottle money?
Maya: He was hungry[cite: 1]. Nobody deserves to be hungry or left alone[cite: 1].
Tears welled up in Julian's eyes as he looked down at the dirty, barefoot girl who had shown more humanity than his wealthy fiancée ever could[cite: 1].