Victoria: You struck me! A billionaire CEO laid his hands on a Vance heiress!
Chris: You are fortunate I didn't throw you straight to the bottom of that pool, Victoria.
Victoria: I am your legal fiancee! We are announcing our marriage tonight!
Chris: There is no marriage. There never was.
Lily coughed hard against Chris's chest, vomiting swallowed pool water onto his grey lapels.
Lily: Daddy... She pushed my shoulders with both hands...
Chris: I know, baby. Daddy heard every single word.
Victoria: She's lying, Chris! She hates me because I told her she couldn't eat candy before dinner!
Nadia: That is an evil lie, Mr. Sterling!
Victoria: Shut your mouth, Nadia! You are a paid servant in this house!
Nadia: I watched her stand over Lily and shove her chest! I was ten feet away!
Victoria: You were inside the laundry room! You couldn't have seen anything!
Nadia: I was setting out the clean pool towels right behind the glass partition!
Chris gently set Lily onto a dry cushioned lounge chair, pulling off his wet suit jacket to swaddle her.
Chris: Keep her warm, Nadia. Take her into the sunroom right now.
Nadia: Right away, Mr. Sterling. Come with me, sweet angel.
Lily: Daddy, don't let the mean lady come inside!
Chris: She will never step foot through those doors again, Lily. I promise.
Chris stood up slowly, his towering frame casting a long shadow across Victoria's crumpled gown.
Victoria: Chris, let's talk about this like rational adults inside the library.
Chris: We have nothing to discuss, Victoria.
Victoria: My father owns thirty percent of the voting equity in Sterling Maritime!
Chris: Your father doesn't own a single share of my company.
Victoria: The partnership contracts were signed in Austin three days ago!
Chris: Those contracts were conditioned on a clean forensic audit of Vance Holdings.
Victoria's hands tightened against the armrest of the patio chair, her face going pale.
Victoria: What forensic audit? My father's firm has spotless accounting records!
Chris: Your father's firm has thirty-two million dollars missing from its operating reserves.
Victoria: That was an overseas capital investment for our cargo routes in Europe!
Chris: That money was wired into private accounts in Zurich under your maiden name.
Victoria: Who told you that ridiculous fairy tale?!
Chris: Your own corporate treasurer handed over the routing numbers at dawn.
Victoria gasped, her hand flying to her throat as her painted lips began to tremble.
Victoria: Miller... Miller would never betray our family!
Chris: Miller made a full proffer to federal prosecutors to keep himself out of prison.
Victoria: Federal prosecutors?! Why would federal authorities care about a domestic partnership?!
Chris: Because your father used my company as a front to launder foreign money.
Victoria: That's a lie! My father is a respected member of the Dallas commerce board!
Chris: Your father was arrested at his country club forty minutes ago, Victoria.
Victoria froze on the wet flagstones, the color draining from her cheeks until she looked like stone.
Victoria: Arrested...? You're lying to scare me into walking away!
Chris: Look at your phone sitting on the glass table, Victoria. If it hasn't been disconnected yet.
Victoria lunged for the gold smartphone, her manicured fingers shaking violently as she tapped the glass.
Her screen lit up with fifty missed calls and urgent push notifications from the Dallas Morning News.
Victoria: 'Vance Maritime raided by federal marshals... Chairman Arthur Vance in custody'...
Chris: Your entire house of cards collapsed before lunch, Victoria.
Victoria: No... No! Everything we built! My trust fund! My penthouse in Austin!
Chris: Every asset tied to your name was frozen by court order thirty minutes ago.
Victoria dropped the phone onto the stone, her eyes wide with terror as sirens rose in the distance.
Victoria: You planned this... You knew my father was going to be arrested!
Chris: I didn't plan your crimes, Victoria. I just stopped you from stealing what belongs to my daughter.