Chloe: You struck me! You filthy, broke waitress laid your hands on my face[cite: 1]!
Nora: You put a three-year-old child in a garbage bin, Chloe[cite: 1]!
Chloe: She refused to call me Mother in front of the caterers! She humiliated me on my own wedding week[cite: 1]!
Nora: She doesn't call you Mother because you are not her mother, you sick psychopath[cite: 1]!
Lily: Mommy, she threw my juice box on the ground... and then she pushed me inside the dark can[cite: 1]...
Nora held Lily tighter, kissing her hair as she felt the child’s ribs shaking against her arm[cite: 1].
Nora: Did she hurt you anywhere else, sweetie? Tell Mommy right now[cite: 1].
Lily: My knees hit the bottom... It smelled so bad, Mommy[cite: 1]...
Chloe: Oh, stop coddling her! She needed a timeout, and the guest rooms are being prepared for the wedding reception[cite: 1]!
Nora: A timeout in a plastic trash bin by the street curb[cite: 1]?!
Chloe: It has clean plastic liners! Don't act like I tossed her into an incinerator[cite: 1]!
Nora: You are lucky I only slapped you once, Chloe[cite: 1].
Chloe: If you don't hand that child over to me this second, I will have the gate security detail throw you off this property in zip-ties[cite: 1]!
Nora: Let them try, Chloe. Call your private guards right now[cite: 1]!
Chloe pulled a gold-cased smartphone from her designer purse, her red cheek glowing bright against her pale skin[cite: 1].
Chloe: Mark! Bring two men down to the front driveway immediately! We have an intruder assaulting family members[cite: 1]!
Nora: Family members? You haven't even signed the marriage license yet, Chloe[cite: 1]!
Chloe: Julian is signing the marriage certificate on Friday afternoon, which makes me the legal mistress of the Sterling estate[cite: 1]!
Nora: Julian isn't signing anything with you, Chloe[cite: 1].
Chloe: Julian loves me! He gave me an eight-carat diamond ring and full power of attorney over the household staff[cite: 1]!
Nora: He gave you power of attorney because you told him I abandoned Lily at a motel in Nevada[cite: 1]!
Chloe paused, her thumb freezing over the smartphone screen as her eyes narrowed sharply[cite: 1].
Chloe: You did abandon her! You took five hundred thousand dollars from Julian's father and disappeared for six months[cite: 1]!
Nora: Your father’s security team kidnapped me from my apartment in Chicago and dumped me in a state hospital under a false name, Chloe[cite: 1]!
Chloe: That is an absurd, paranoid lie! You're an unstable addict trying to shake down a billionaire family[cite: 1]!
Nora: Then why did the federal marshals raid your father's private medical clinic in Reno two hours ago[cite: 1]?
Chloe’s mouth dropped open, the phone slipping slightly in her manicured hand[cite: 1].
Chloe: What... what clinic? My father is a retired corporate attorney[cite: 1]!
Nora: Your father owns forty percent of Hope Haven Wellness, the unlicensed psychiatric facility where they kept me sedated for six months[cite: 1]!
Lily: Mommy, look! Daddy’s big black car is coming through the gate[cite: 1]!
A black luxury SUV roared up the curved asphalt driveway, its tires screeching loudly as it slid to a halt right behind the plastic recycling bin[cite: 1].
The driver’s door flew open with a bang, and Julian Sterling stepped out onto the gravel in a dark charcoal three-piece suit, his tie loosened and his face twisted in pure, unmasked panic[cite: 1].
Julian: Lily! Nora[cite: 1]?!
Chloe: Julian, darling! Thank God you're home! This woman attacked me on the front lawn[cite: 1]!
Nora didn't move an inch, holding her crying toddler tight as Julian walked straight toward the green trash bin with his eyes wide in utter horror[cite: 1].