The silence that followed Sarah's words hung heavily over the white marble courtyard.
Mark stood beside Sarah and gently placed his arm around her shaking shoulders.
Mark: Mom, you have pushed us both far beyond our absolute limit today.
Victoria: I am your mother, Mark, and I raised you to run a multi-million-dollar empire.
Mark: Empire means nothing to me if I cannot protect my own wife and daughter.
Victoria leaned over the high white iron railing with a furious look in her eyes.
Victoria: She manipulated you from the very first day you brought her home!
Sarah looked at Mark and saw the pain in his warm brown eyes.
She remembered the quiet tiny apartment where they had first started their life together.
They had been so happy before Victoria forced Mark back into the corporate office.
Sarah: Your mother hired private investigators to follow me around for six months, Mark.
Mark: What are you talking about, Sarah?
Victoria: Be quiet, Sarah, or you will regret speaking out of turn!
Sarah: She wanted to find any excuse to destroy our marriage before the baby arrived.
Mark turned his head slowly to glare up at his mother on the balcony.
Mark: Did you actually hire spies to follow my pregnant wife around town?
Victoria: I did what any protective mother with a vast inheritance would do!
Sarah reached into her bag to feel the thick paper envelope resting inside.
Sarah: She even called my doctor to try to get access to my medical records.
Mark: That is crossing a legal line that I cannot forgive, Mom.
Victoria waved her hand dismissively as if the law did not apply to her status.
Victoria: I own half the legal firms in this city, so do not preach to me!
Sarah shifted her baby to her left arm to keep her warm and cozy.
Sarah: You were so afraid that your son would love someone outside your rich social circle.
Victoria: You were a school teacher with nothing to your name when he met you!
Mark: She had honesty and heart, which is far more than anyone in this house has!
Victoria gasped loudly as Mark spoke back to her with such unyielding directness.
Victoria: You dare disrespect your mother in front of the estate staff?
Mark: You disrespected my family the moment you accused Sarah of infidelity!
The American flag hanging from the balcony staff fluttered softly in the cool afternoon breeze.
Sarah could feel the tension mounting between the mother and her grown son.
Sarah: It was never about the money for me, Victoria.
Victoria: Everything in this world comes down to money and legal bloodlines, girl!
Sarah: Then you will be very interested to see what I brought with me today.