Victoria: Did she just call you Daddy?!
Charles: Press down on the canister, Emily. Take two deep breaths, baby.
Emily: It tastes like mint... Daddy, my chest hurts so bad.
Charles: I know, sweetheart. Daddy has you right now. You are safe.
Victoria pushed herself up from the floor, clutching her throbbing, crimson cheek as her sequined gown caught the morning light.
Victoria: Charles, what kind of sick joke is this? She is a hired cleaning girl from the city agency!
Charles: Emily is my daughter from my first marriage, Victoria.
Victoria: You told me your daughter was attending an elite boarding academy in Switzerland!
Charles: I sent her abroad to protect her from predatory social climbers like you!
Victoria: Then why was she wearing an apron and scrubbing my kitchen floor?!
Emily: I wanted to see what kind of woman my father was bringing into our family home.
Victoria: You spied on me?! You dressed as a common servant to spy on your own stepmother?!
Emily: You showed your true face the second my father walked out the front gates, Victoria.
Charles: What did you put inside that glass, Victoria?
Victoria: It was ordinary fresh orange juice! She had an allergic asthma attack because she's weak!
Charles: Do not lie to my face! Look at the chemical residue along the rim!
Charles dipped his finger into the remaining liquid at the bottom of the shattered crystal tumbler, sniffing the wet film.
Charles: Bleach and liquid sulfur. You mixed industrial cleaning solvent into her morning juice!
Victoria: That's absurd! Why would I poison a domestic maid?!
Charles: Because you wanted her gone before the corporate lawyers arrived with the revised family trust!
Victoria: I didn't know who she was! I swear on my mother's grave, Charles, I thought she was just an insubordinate girl!
Charles: So you think it's acceptable to poison a worker because she doesn't move fast enough?!
Victoria: That's not what I meant! She was rude to me! She dropped my silk scarf on the stairs!
Emily: You threw your scarf on the floor and ordered me to lick the dust off your heels, Victoria.
Charles's jaw clenched until the veins stood out along his neck like thick ropes.
Charles: You told my child to lick dust off your shoes?
Victoria: She needed to learn discipline! When I become mistress of this estate, the staff will show respect!
Charles: You will never be the mistress of this estate, Victoria. You are finished.
Victoria: You cannot throw me out! We signed the prenuptial agreement on Friday!
Charles: That prenuptial agreement is completely void in cases of attempted capital felony, Victoria.
Victoria: You can't prove I did anything intentional! It's your word against mine!
Charles: Look above the refrigerator cabinet, Victoria. Look right into the brass ventilation hood.
Victoria's eyes darted upward toward the stainless steel hood, freezing as she spotted the blinking blue lens of a hidden camera.
Victoria: That camera was supposed to be disconnected! The contractor said the kitchen wiring was off!
Charles: The security system runs on an encrypted satellite feed directly to my smartphone, Victoria.
Emily: Daddy, my hands are shaking... My throat still feels swollen.
Charles: Marcus! Call the emergency medical unit to the front courtyard right now!
The kitchen door flew open as the head of estate security marched inside, his radio buzzing with static.
Marcus: The ambulance is already turning down the driveway, Mr. Sterling. And the police are right behind them.
Victoria stumbled backward against the island counter, realizing the trap she had walked into was closing shut.