Victoria: Call them off, Charles! Tell the police it was a domestic misunderstanding!
Charles: You tried to suffocate my daughter in her own kitchen, Victoria. There is no misunderstanding.
Victoria: Think about our high-society standing! Think about what the country club will say tomorrow morning!
Charles: The country club will be reading your mugshot on the front page of the Dallas Morning News.
Victoria: My father is Arthur Vance! He controls thirty percent of your coastal shipping lines!
Charles: Your father was arrested by federal marshals in Houston forty minutes ago, Victoria.
Victoria froze against the polished marble counter, the color draining from her lips until she looked like a corpse.
Victoria: Arrested...? My father is having brunch with the state banking commissioner in Austin!
Charles: The banking commissioner signed his federal indictment at six o'clock this morning.
Victoria: You're lying! You're making up ridiculous stories to justify hitting your fiancee!
Charles: Look at your phone on the counter, Victoria. If the federal authorities haven't frozen your service yet.
Victoria reached out with shaking fingers, picking up her gold smartphone from the marble surface.
Her screen was flooded with fifty missed calls from her family's legal firm and breaking news banners across every financial app.
Victoria: 'Vance Maritime Holdings raided under federal asset forfeiture warrant; CEO Arthur Vance in custody'...
Charles: The entire house of cards you built on stolen pension money just collapsed, Victoria.
Victoria: No... No! That money was supposed to fund our merger! My father promised me thirty million dollars!
Charles: That thirty million dollars was embezzled from my late wife's charitable foundation three years ago.
Emily: She wanted to get rid of me so the money wouldn't revert to my trust fund, Daddy.
Charles: Is that true, Victoria? Did you know Emily was the sole beneficiary of that endowment?
Victoria: I didn't know she was in the house! My private investigator said she was living in Zurich!
Charles: So you broke into my private study safe and stole her medical records last night, didn't you?
Victoria's hands began to tremble so violently that her gold smartphone slipped from her grip, clattering onto the tiles.
Victoria: I was looking for our marriage certificate! I wanted to make sure the county filing was registered!
Charles: You found her asthma inhaler prescription in that safe, Victoria. You knew exactly which chemical would trigger a fatal airway seizure.
Emily: She poured the juice herself, Daddy. She wouldn't let any other maid near the breakfast tray.
Victoria: Emily is making up stories! She hated me from the day I moved into this mansion!
Charles: Emily has more honor in her little finger than your entire bloodline, Victoria.
Victoria: You can't strip my share of the company! We signed the merger contracts before witnesses!
Charles: Those contracts were signed under false corporate representations, Victoria. They are completely void.
Victoria: I gave you six months of my life! I hosted your dinner parties and entertained your investors!
Charles: You spent six months bleeding our corporate accounts dry while abusing the household staff.
Marcus: Paramedics are at the front archway, Mr. Sterling.
Two female paramedics in blue tactical uniforms hurried into the kitchen carrying a trauma bag and portable oxygen.
Paramedic Lisa: Where is the patient? We have reports of acute chemical airway constriction.
Charles: Right here, Doctor. She ingested a mixture of orange juice and cleaning solvent ten minutes ago.
Paramedic Lisa: Let's get the oxygen mask on her immediately. We need to administer nebulized albuterol and transport her to Dallas General.
Emily leaned back against her father's chest as the paramedic gently placed the clear plastic mask over her nose and mouth.
Emily: Daddy... Don't leave me alone with her.
Charles: I will never leave your side again, sweetheart. Daddy is going in the ambulance with you.
Victoria took a step toward the hallway entrance, her eyes darting frantically toward the back service doors.
Charles: Marcus, block that door. Nobody leaves this room until the homicide detectives arrive.