Victoria: What... What did you just say[cite: 1]?
Julian: That zero-percent match report was from the paternity audit I ran on your father's business partner in Chicago, Victoria[cite: 1].
Victoria: My father doesn't have an illegitimate child! My parents have been married for forty years[cite: 1]!
Julian: Your father has an eight-year-old son living in Illinois, supported by four million dollars embezzled from your family's shipping accounts[cite: 1].
Victoria’s jaw dropped open, her manicured fingers clawing at the white marble as if the floor were opening beneath her[cite: 1].
Victoria: Four million dollars... Stolen by my own father[cite: 1]?
Julian: That's why your family was desperate to push our marriage through before the annual audit, Victoria[cite: 1].
Maria: She told me this morning that she was going to have Toby sent to an unmonitored boarding institution in Switzerland, Mr. Sterling[cite: 1]!
Julian: Did you honestly believe you could ship my son out of the country while I was working in Texas[cite: 1]?
Victoria: A child with special medical needs requires specialized European care! I was acting in his best developmental interest[cite: 1]!
Julian: He doesn't have special medical needs, Victoria! He had bruises because you beat him when you were angry[cite: 1]!
Victoria: He wouldn't stop crying! He screamed every time I walked into the nursery! What was I supposed to do[cite: 1]?!
Julian: You walk out of the room! You call a nurse! You don't lay your filthy hands on a five-month-old baby's ribs[cite: 1]!
The heavy mahogany doors chimed as Dr. Harrison hurried into the foyer carrying a pediatric trauma kit, accompanied by two armed estate security guards[cite: 1].
Dr. Harrison: Julian! I came through the service gate the second your security radioed! Where is the infant[cite: 1]?
Julian: On the floor with Maria, Doctor. Check his left ribcage immediately. She squeezed him until the skin tore[cite: 1].
Dr. Harrison: Let me look at him right away. Maria, gently support his shoulders while I use the stethoscope[cite: 1].
Maria carefully raised the white cloth, her tears dripping onto the doctor's sterile gloves as Dr. Harrison listened to Toby's shallow breathing[cite: 1].
Dr. Harrison: Deep contusions across the fourth and fifth intercostal margins. No rib fractures, thank God, but severe blunt force trauma[cite: 1].
Julian: Is he going to suffer any internal hemorrhaging, Doctor[cite: 1]?
Dr. Harrison: We caught it early, Julian. But if this pressure had continued for another thirty seconds, his lung could have collapsed[cite: 1].
Julian’s heart skipped a beat, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead as he looked down at his crying son[cite: 1].
Julian: Another thirty seconds... My baby could have died in this foyer[cite: 1].
Dr. Harrison: Maria's intervention saved this child's life, Julian. Look at her face—she took the brunt of the violence herself[cite: 1].
Julian: Maria, you will never wear that uniform in this house again[cite: 1].
Maria looked up, fresh tears welling in her swollen eyes as her chin trembled with quiet heartbreak[cite: 1].
Maria: Mr. Sterling... Are you letting me go? I have nowhere else to go, sir[cite: 1]...
Julian: Letting you go? Maria, you are appointed the permanent Executive Trustee of the Toby Sterling Family Foundation, with a lifetime salary and full estate guardianship[cite: 1].
Maria: Oh, Mr. Sterling... Merciful God... Thank you from the bottom of my soul[cite: 1]!
Victoria pushed herself up against the wall, her royal blue dress covered in dust and blood from Maria's nose[cite: 1].
Victoria: You're giving an illiterate maid control of an eighty-million-dollar family trust fund[cite: 1]?!
Julian: Maria has more honor, courage, and love in her little finger than your entire bloodline, Victoria[cite: 1].
Outside the tall arched double doors, the loud, piercing wail of police sirens began to echo down the long tree-lined driveway[cite: 1].
Flashing red and blue lights illuminated the white marble pillars, casting sharp, rhythmic shadows across the American flag mounted on the wall[cite: 1].
Victoria's hands flew to her throat, her breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps as heavy tactical boots pounded against the front steps[cite: 1].
Victoria: Julian, please! Don't let them take me in front of the neighbors! I will sign whatever papers you want[cite: 1]!
Julian: You had your chance to sign papers, Victoria. Now you can sign your booking sheet at the county jail[cite: 1].