Victoria: You struck me! A billionaire laid hands on a high-society heiress!
Julian: I should have thrown you out of this estate six months ago, Victoria!
Victoria: That maid is lying through her teeth, Julian! She grabbed Maya from the nursery crib!
Elena: Look up at the second-floor gallery, Mr. Sterling! The pink lace blanket is still caught on the brass spindle!
Julian tilted his head back, his eyes catching the fluttering piece of fabric caught thirty feet above them.
Julian: Why was my eight-month-old daughter on that high balcony, Victoria?
Victoria: I took her out for some morning sunshine! The maid startled me and snatched her away!
Elena: You leaned over the edge and opened both of your hands, you wicked snake!
Victoria: Shut your mouth, servant! Pack your uniform and get off this property right now!
Julian: Elena is not going anywhere, Victoria. You don't dismiss my household staff.
Victoria: I am your legal wife under Texas law! I run this entire household!
Julian: You have zero authority over this house, and zero authority over my child.
Julian knelt on the marble floor beside Elena, his fingers trembling as he reached for his daughter.
Julian: Let me hold her, Elena. Give me my baby girl.
Elena: Hold her head gently, Mr. Sterling. She was falling so fast.
Maya buried her wet face into Julian's blue suit jacket, her small fists clutching his lapels.
Julian: Daddy is right here, Maya. Daddy has you safe in his arms.
Victoria: You're coddling that child just like your dead wife did, Julian!
Julian's eyes hardened into black ice as he stood up, towering over the woman on the floor.
Julian: Do not speak Clara's name with your filthy, venomous tongue.
Victoria: Clara died two years ago! I am the woman managing your public image and running your charity balls!
Julian: You didn't manage anything, Victoria. You bled our family trust dry.
Victoria pushed herself up onto her elbows, smoothing the crumpled green satin fabric over her knees.
Victoria: That is slander! My family invested thirty million dollars into your shipping operations last spring!
Julian: Your family didn't invest a single penny of clean money, Victoria.
Victoria: What are you talking about?! Vance Maritime holds thirty percent of your equity shares!
Julian: Your father embezzled that thirty million dollars directly from the municipal port authority.
Victoria froze on the floor, the color draining from her lips until she looked like damp chalk.
Victoria: That's a ridiculous lie! My father is a respected commissioner on the harbor board!
Julian: Your father was arrested at his downtown Dallas office thirty minutes ago by federal marshals.
Victoria: Arrested...?! You're making up wild stories to justify hitting your wife!
Julian: You are not my wife, Victoria. You never were.
Victoria: We had a wedding ceremony in front of four hundred guests at the cathedral!
Julian: A ceremony built on forged documents, bigamy, and corporate blackmail.
Julian reached inside his tailored blue jacket, pulling out a thick legal packet stamped with a red seal.
He threw the heavy envelope down onto the tiles directly in front of her trembling knees.
Julian: Open it, Victoria. Read page four aloud so Elena can hear what kind of predator walked into our home.
Victoria's manicured hands shook so violently that the paper rustled loudly against the stone.
Victoria: 'State of Texas, Family Court Division... Decree of Immediate Annulment'...
Julian: Keep reading, Victoria. Read the red stamp across the center.
Victoria: 'Void ab initio... Due to active legal marriage of Victoria Vance to Mark Lawson in Nassau'...
Julian: You committed felony bigamy to get your hands on my late wife's sixty-million-dollar trust fund.
Victoria's breath seized in her throat as she stared at the official Bahamian court seal.
Outside the tall arched windows, the distant sound of wailing police sirens began to echo down the long tree-lined driveway.