The heavy oak doors of the private library slammed shut with a heavy thud that rattled the glass cases.
Julian walked behind his desk, opening a concealed steel wall safe and withdrawing a thick legal binder.
Julian: Why did you do it, Victoria? Tell me before I let the authorities take you out of my house.
Victoria: I didn't do anything! The camera proved I was simply standing on the balcony! That isn't a crime!
Julian: You watched an innocent child sink to the bottom of eight feet of water and didn't make a sound.
Victoria: I panicked! Why are you attacking your own wife over an accident that was resolved?
Maya: Because you knew what was written in the trust fund, Mrs. Sterling.
Victoria spun around on her heel, her palm flying out in a vicious slap aimed straight at Maya's cheek.
Julian caught Victoria’s wrist mid-air with an iron grip that threw her back onto the leather armchair.
Julian: Put your hands on anyone else in this room and I will have security pin you to the floor.
Victoria: She is eavesdropping on private family affairs! Fire her and throw her off the property!
Julian: Maya, what are you talking about? What trust fund?
Maya: Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Sterling, I was dusting the sitting room shelves next to the sunroom.
Julian: Go on. Speak plainly.
Maya: Mrs. Sterling was on speakerphone with an estate lawyer. She thought the double doors were locked from the inside.
Victoria: That was a private legal consultation regarding tax planning! That is completely confidential work!
Maya: She asked the attorney what would happen to the sixty-million-dollar inheritance trust from Toby's biological mother if Toby died before turning eighteen.
Julian stood motionless, the air escaping his lungs as if he had been struck with a sledgehammer.
Julian: You asked my estate lawyer about Toby’s late mother's trust fund?
Victoria: That was standard financial planning! Every responsible family reviews corporate estate assets!
Julian: Our prenuptial agreement gives you two million dollars if we divorce, Victoria. That was the contract you signed.
Victoria: Which was an insult! I spent three years playing mother to another woman's brat while you ran your shipping empire!
Julian: Toby is an innocent baby who called you Mommy!
Victoria: He is an anchor around my neck! All your wealth, the oceanfront estate, the corporate stock—it was all tied up for him!
Maya: The attorney told her that if Toby had no surviving biological parent or siblings, the surviving stepmother would become the sole managing trustee of the entire fund.
Julian: You calculated the timeline. You let him fall into the deep end so you could take control of sixty million dollars.
Victoria: You cannot prove intent in a courtroom! A private phone call is entirely inadmissible hearsay!
Julian: The video from the roofline combined with your phone records will be all the evidence a grand jury needs.
Victoria lunged forward across the desk, clawing to reach Julian’s smartphone, but he slammed the legal binder against her hands.
Victoria: Julian, please! Think of your company! Think of the press! This will destroy Sterling Maritime on Wall Street!
Julian: My son's life is worth more than every share in my company, Victoria.