Victoria: You're lying to me! You're making up insane stories to justify calling off the marriage!
Ethan: Unlock your screen, Victoria. See for yourself.
Victoria crawled across the wet tiles, snatching her gold smartphone with trembling fingers.
A flood of fifty-two missed calls and red news banners filled her display.
Victoria: 'Vance Maritime raided under federal grand jury indictment... Arthur Vance detained on wire fraud'...
Ethan: Your father’s offshore accounts in Panama were frozen at dawn, Victoria.
Victoria: No... No! Everything we built! My trust fund! My real estate portfolio in Austin!
Ethan: Every asset linked to your social security number was seized under federal forfeiture orders.
Victoria: You can't seize my personal accounts! That money was gifted to me by my grandfather!
Ethan: That money was laundered through the Sterling employee retirement trust, Victoria.
Victoria: Why did you let me stay in this house if you knew about the federal raid?!
Ethan: Because I needed to find out who stole my late wife's private medical journals.
Victoria’s breath caught in her throat, her manicured hands freezing over her phone.
Victoria: What medical journals? Clara died in a private hospital wing three years ago!
Ethan: Clara didn't die of natural causes, Victoria.
The entire grand hall went dead silent, the only sound being Noah’s soft, exhausted whimpers.
Victoria: The medical examiner ruled it sudden heart failure!
Ethan: The medical examiner was paid two hundred thousand dollars by your family's shell corporation.
Victoria: That's a deranged conspiracy theory! I wasn't even dating you when Clara passed away!
Ethan: But your father was trying to force a corporate takeover of my shipping lines, wasn't he?
Victoria: That was routine business competition! It had nothing to do with your wife!
Ethan: Clara held sixty percent of the voting shares in her personal living trust.
Rosa: And with Mrs. Clara gone, those shares transferred directly to baby Noah!
Ethan: Exactly, Rosa. Noah became the sole owner of sixty percent of Sterling Global.
Victoria: He's an infant! He can't vote on corporate resolutions!
Ethan: Which meant his legal guardian controlled the votes.
Victoria: You were his guardian! You were the one running the board meetings!
Ethan: Until you convinced me to draft a shared parental guardianship agreement last month.
Victoria pushed herself back against the sofa baseboard, her eyes darting toward the front door.
Victoria: That agreement was standard estate planning for our upcoming marriage!
Ethan: Read clause twelve of that contract, Victoria.
Ethan pulled a thick cream-colored folder from his briefcase, tossing it onto the wet floor before her.
Ethan: 'In the event of the minor heir's demise or incapacitation, full executive trusteeship transfers to Victoria Vance.'
Rosa: Dear God in heaven... She wanted that baby dead from the start!
Victoria: I didn't write that clause! My father's estate attorneys drafted the template!
Ethan: Your father's attorneys gave sworn depositions to the FBI at seven o'clock this morning.
Victoria: Sworn depositions...?!
Ethan: They confirmed that you personally demanded the survivorship transfer clause in writing.
Victoria's jaw dropped open, her throat constricting as raw, unyielding terror took hold.
Victoria: They gave you my personal emails...?
Ethan: Every single message, Victoria. Including the email where you asked how long an infant could survive severe hypothermia.
Rosa gasped in horror, clutching Noah tighter against her uniform.
Rosa: You wicked, heartless monster! You researched how to kill a baby in cold water!
Victoria: That was research for a charity novel! I was helping a friend write a thriller script!
Ethan: Save your pathetic lies for the federal grand jury, Victoria.