Victoria Vance, wearing a velvet emerald gown, adjusted her gold necklace and chuckled softly at the poor child.
Not a single person stepped forward to ask if the frightened ten-year-old girl was okay after the sudden crash.
The sharp sound of breaking glass echoed clear into the grand house where Marcus was finishing his telephone conversation.
He recognized his daughter's quiet whimpers immediately and dropped his phone onto the office desk.
Marcus sprinted out the back patio doors, his tailored navy blue suit catching the bright sunlight as he ran.
His heart dropped into his stomach when he saw Evelyn kneeling among dangerous shards of broken glass.
Marcus reached his daughter in two long strides and pulled her safely into his strong, protective arms.
He quickly checked her small hands and knees to ensure she had not been cut by the sharp edges.
Evelyn buried her tear-stained face into her father's chest, her tiny fingers clutching his blue suit coat tightly.
She looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes and spoke in a voice that shook with deep emotion.
Papa, I was so hot and thirsty, but they would not let me have any water, she whispered softly.
A cold wave of absolute fury washed over Marcus as he listened to his innocent daughter's trembling words.
He lifted his eyes from Evelyn and locked his gaze on his snobbish aunt Victoria and grandmother Beatrice.
Victoria simply folded her arms across her velvet emerald gown and sneered back at him without any guilt.
She brought it upon herself by touching things that do not belong to her side of the family, Victoria declared.
Marcus felt years of stored frustration and disrespect suddenly explode inside his mind like a thunderclap.
These people had looked down on him when he was broke, and now they mistreated his motherless daughter.
He placed Evelyn safely behind his two tall bodyguards who had just rushed out onto the sunny patio.
Stay right here sweetheart, Marcus said in a dangerously calm tone that made the security guards step back.