Victoria: Julian, please! Think about our reputation in high society! We can settle this privately[cite: 1]!
Julian: The time for private settlements ended when you brought that hot iron down on my child[cite: 1].
Victoria: I'll sign a complete waiver! I'll surrender all claims to the partnership and leave Texas tonight[cite: 1]!
Julian: You won't take a single step past those front gates, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: My father's corporate legal team will tear this case apart! They have judges on retainer across the county[cite: 1]!
Julian: Your father's legal team surrendered their licenses at ten o'clock this morning, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: Surrendered their licenses?! On what possible legal grounds[cite: 1]?!
Julian: On grounds of facilitating thirty-four million dollars in fraudulent offshore transfers through Panama[cite: 1].
Victoria backed away toward the fireplace, her expensive silver gown dragging through the soot on the hearth[cite: 1].
Victoria: My father would never involve me in offshore money laundering! I had nothing to do with those accounts[cite: 1]!
Julian: Your signature is on fourteen separate wire authorizations, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: I was only signing documents my father placed in front of me as a corporate vice president[cite: 1]!
Julian: You signed for a four-million-dollar wire transfer on the exact afternoon Clara's car brakes failed on Route 281[cite: 1].
The entire living room went dead silent, the only sound being Ethan's soft, ragged breathing against Maria's chest[cite: 1].
Victoria's hands froze against the stone mantel, her eyes widening in absolute horror[cite: 1].
Victoria: Clara's car accident...? That was an unfortunate mechanical malfunction during a storm[cite: 1]!
Julian: The Texas Department of Public Safety reopened that crash investigation three days ago, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: Why would they reopen a closed traffic accident from eighteen months ago[cite: 1]?!
Julian: Because the mechanic who serviced her SUV came forward to federal investigators with a cash payment receipt[cite: 1].
Victoria: What mechanic?! I don't know any mechanics in Dallas[cite: 1]!
Julian: The mechanic who received a fifty-thousand-dollar wire transfer from your personal checking account, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria sank down against the stone hearth, her knees buckling completely as loud, choked gasps tore from her throat[cite: 1].
Victoria: That wire was for vintage auto restoration! My father bought a classic roadster at an auction[cite: 1]!
Julian: The mechanic gave prosecutors the audio recording of your phone call, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: Audio recording...? I never authorized any audio recordings[cite: 1]!
Julian pulled a second printed sheet from the manila folder, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper[cite: 1].
Julian: 'Make sure the brake fluid lines bleed out slowly over thirty miles. Julian needs to be a grieving bachelor before the fiscal audit'[cite: 1].
Maria: Sweet Jesus in heaven... You murdered Clara[cite: 1]!
Victoria: You don't understand, Julian! My father was facing thirty years in prison! We needed your logistics equity to survive[cite: 1]!
Julian: You murdered the mother of my child so you could step into her shoes and take her trust fund[cite: 1]!
Victoria: I loved you! I gave you eighteen months of my life! I hosted your dinner parties and smiled at your dry corporate partners[cite: 1]!
Julian: You spent eighteen months planning how to eliminate my infant son so there would be no surviving heirs[cite: 1]!
Victoria: With Ethan gone, we could have had our own children! We could have built a real empire together[cite: 1]!
Julian closed his eyes, his knuckles turning white as he fought to keep his hands at his sides[cite: 1].
Julian: You are not human, Victoria. You are a cold, calculating monster who belongs behind iron bars[cite: 1].
From the long tree-lined driveway outside, the high-pitched wail of police sirens began to rise through the open doors[cite: 1].
Flashing red and blue emergency lights painted the white walls of the grand foyer in rapid, rhythmic strokes[cite: 1].