Victoria: You set up an entire federal investigation behind my back while planning our wedding?!
David: I started digging the moment our corporate accountant noticed four million dollars missing from our reserves.
Victoria: That money was an emergency bridge loan for our cargo vessels in Galveston!
David: That money went straight into a private account in the Cayman Islands registered under your maiden name.
Victoria: My father told me to open that account! He said it was an emergency family trust fund!
David: Your father gave federal prosecutors every single email between you two this morning.
Victoria's knees buckled slightly, but she caught herself against the curved wooden balustrade.
Victoria: My father... gave them my emails?!
David: He took a plea bargain at nine o'clock this morning to save himself from life imprisonment.
Victoria: That selfish, cowardly old bastard! He swore he would protect me no matter what happened!
David: Criminals turn on each other the moment the handcuffs come out, Victoria.
Victoria: Even if my father broke corporate laws, you still can't prove I pushed Toby down these stairs!
David: Did you honestly think I didn't have cameras monitoring this staircase, Victoria?
Victoria's eyes snapped upward toward the high ceiling crown molding thirty feet above the landing.
Victoria: The electrician told me the second-floor circuits were completely shut off for chandelier repairs!
David: The commercial lines were shut off. The private satellite security feed runs twenty-four hours a day.
Victoria: You... You have a camera pointed directly at this landing?!
David: Look at the center carved medallion right above the third portrait.
Concealed inside the decorative plaster scrollwork was a tiny black glass dome pulsing with a red diode.
David: It records in 4K resolution at sixty frames per second, with directional high-definition audio.
Victoria's face drained of every last trace of color, leaving her skin looking like damp chalk.
Victoria: Directional audio?!
David: It recorded you telling my seven-year-old son, 'Accidents happen so easily in big houses.'
Victoria: That was a figure of speech! I was warning him about running on the slick stone!
David: And then the video shows you planting both hands on his chest and shoving him with all your weight.
Victoria's breath seized in her chest, her hands flying to her mouth in raw, paralyzing horror.
Victoria: That footage was taken without my written consent! It violates Texas residential privacy statutes!
Officer Davis: Under Texas Penal Code Section 16.02, a property owner has every legal right to monitor his home to protect human life.
Victoria: I am a resident of this mansion! I have legal expectations of privacy!
David: You have zero expectations of privacy when attempting to murder an innocent child.
Officer Miller stepped up the stairs, holding a rugged tactical police tablet in his hands.
Officer Miller: The live feed from that camera was routed directly to our dispatch center fifteen minutes ago, ma'am.
Victoria: Dispatch center... You watched the video before you even entered the house?!
Officer Miller: We watched you push him, and we watched that brave young lady dive across the steps to save his life.
Officer Miller unclipped a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from his duty belt, the metal ratchets clicking loudly.
Officer Miller: Victoria Vance, turn around and place both hands behind your back right now.
Victoria: Do not touch me! I demand to speak to my personal defense attorney immediately!
David: Your personal defense attorneys were disqualified by the federal magistrate two hours ago, Victoria.
Victoria: Disqualified?! On what possible legal grounds?!
David: On grounds of facilitating twelve million dollars in fraudulent offshore transfers through Panama.
Victoria backed away toward the guest suite hallway, her heels slipping on the polished hardwood.
Victoria: David, please! Look at me! We were going to build an empire together!
David: An empire built on my wife's money, my company's pensions, and my son's blood?
Victoria: I can change! We can send Toby to a prestigious boarding academy in Switzerland! You won't have to worry about him!
David: Toby is staying right here in his home, Victoria. The only person leaving is you.