Julian: Victoria, lower your voice. Elena did not break the statue.
Victoria: Then who did, Julian?! Statues do not jump off heavy marble pedestals on their own!
Julian: Toby reached for something on the top shelf, and the pedestal tipped over.
Victoria: Toby again?! That spoiled little brat is destroying this house piece by piece!
Julian's expression instantly darkened, his jaw clenching as he stepped between Victoria and the maid.
Julian: Do not call my son a brat in his own home, Victoria.
Victoria: Oh, please, Julian! We are getting married in two months! I am allowed to discipline my future stepson when he acts like a barbarian!
Julian: He is eight years old and grieving his mother, Victoria! He is not a barbarian!
Victoria: His mother has been dead for three years, Julian! At some point, you have to stop using her memory as an excuse for his terrible behavior!
Elena stood up slowly, holding the silk handkerchief to her scratched cheek as she looked at Victoria with quiet disgust.
Elena: Miss Vance, with all due respect, the boy was holding a photograph of his mother when the accident happened. He was just missing her.
Victoria: Who gave you permission to speak to me, maid?! Know your place in this house!
Elena: My place is ensuring Toby is safe and cared for, ma'am. Which is something you clearly don't care about.
Victoria: Julian! Are you going to let a common servant talk to your future wife like that?! Throw her out on the street right now!
Julian: Elena took the blow from that falling bronze statue to protect Toby, Victoria. She saved him from being crushed.
Victoria: That is what you pay her for, isn't it?! It's her job to take the hit, not an antique sculpture!
Julian stared at Victoria as if seeing her clearly for the first time in two years. The glamorous, polished woman he had met at a high-society charity gala suddenly looked cold, hollow, and utterly heartless.
Julian: Is that really how you see human beings, Victoria? As transactional objects?
Victoria: Don't be dramatic, Julian! It's a fifty-thousand-dollar piece of art! The maid's uniform is worth twenty bucks!
Julian: Get out.
Victoria: What did you just say to me?
Julian: I said, get out of my house, Victoria. Right now.
Victoria: Julian, you can't be serious! Our wedding invitations are already sent out to every major board member in Texas!
Julian: Then you can spend the rest of the afternoon calling those board members and telling them the wedding is cancelled.
Victoria's jaw dropped in absolute shock, her face turning bright red beneath her makeup as she gestured wildly toward the hallway.
Victoria: You are calling off our wedding over a broken statue and a bleeding maid?!
Julian: No. I am calling off our wedding because I almost made the fatal mistake of bringing a monster into my son's life.
Victoria: You will regret this, Julian Sterling! My father's investment firm will pull every dollar from your shipping trust by tomorrow morning!
Julian: Tell your father to do his worst. My family isn't for sale.
Victoria let out a furious shriek, spinning around on her high heels and stomping out through the grand entrance, slamming the heavy wooden double doors so hard the crystal chandelier rattled high above[cite: 1].