Clara: Canceled?! You're ruining a hundred-million-dollar merger over a minor incident?!
Brandon: Minor incident? You physically assaulted my defenseless child!
Clara: He's just a baby, Brandon! He won't even remember this tomorrow!
Brandon: But I will never forget it as long as I live!
Brandon handed Noah gently back to Maria, wrapping a warm blanket around his son before turning back to face the woman he had almost married. His eyes, usually warm and professional, were now cold as ice, burning with uncontainable anger.
Maria: I'll take him upstairs to the nursery and apply an ice pack to his side, sir.
Brandon: Thank you, Maria. Lock the nursery door from the inside and stay with him.
Maria: Yes, Mr. Sterling. God bless you for protecting him.
As Maria rushed up the winding marble staircase with the baby, Clara stepped forward, her green sequined gown catching the light as she reached out to touch Brandon's arm. Brandon recoiled as if stung by a viper, stepping backward onto the marble floor.
Clara: Brandon, be reasonable! My family controls thirty percent of the voting shares in Sterling Enterprises! If you call off this wedding, my father will pull every investment account by morning!
Brandon: Let him pull every cent! I would rather lose my entire empire than allow a child abuser near my son!
Clara: Think about your estate, Brandon! Your status in Dallas! What will people say when they hear the wedding is off?
Brandon: They will say that I kicked a trashy fraud out of my home!
Clara: How dare you call me trash! I am Clara Vance! My family built this city's financial district!
Brandon: Take off the ring.
Clara: What?
Brandon: Take off my mother's five-carat diamond ring. You are not fit to wear it for another second.
Clara: I am not giving this ring back! You gave it to me as a binding legal betrothal gift!
Brandon: Take it off before I have security strip it from your finger!
Clara's lip curled in pure malice as she yanked the sparkling diamond ring off her finger. She raised her hand and threw it hard against the marble wall, right beneath the framed American flag. The ring bounced off the plaster with a loud clatter and rolled across the floor, stopping near Brandon's shoes.
Clara: Take your stupid family ring! You think you're so noble, Brandon Sterling? Without my family's money, your company's stock will plunge forty percent by the time the market opens!
Brandon: Money can be remade, Clara. But a child's safety is irreplaceable.
Clara: You're a fool! A pathetic, emotional fool who chooses a crying baby over a business empire!
Brandon: I am a father first, and a CEO second. Something a heartless creature like you could never comprehend.
Clara: I'm leaving, but don't you dare come begging my father for a bailout when your board of directors votes to remove you next week!
Brandon: Oh, you're not just leaving the estate, Clara. You're leaving in a police car.
Clara froze in her tracks, her hand hovering near the brass handle of the front door. She turned around slowly, her face contorting in panic as she heard the faint sound of sirens approaching down the long estate driveway.
Clara: Police? You called the police on me?!
Brandon: The moment I saw the bruise on Noah's side, I pressed the silent emergency alarm under the foyer table.
Clara: Brandon, you can't be serious! A felony child abuse arrest will ruin my reputation forever!
Brandon: You should have thought about your reputation before you raised your foot against a nine-month-old infant.
Clara: I'll sue you! My family will hire the highest-paid defense team in the state of Texas!
Brandon: Hire whoever you want. The video footage is already backed up on my secure cloud server, and a copy has been sent directly to the District Attorney's office.