Elena hurried down the marble steps with her brown satin dress trailing behind her.
Her face looked pale and frantic as she clutched the railing with both hands.
Elena: It was an accident, Richard!
Elena: She slipped right out of my hands!
Richard stood up slowly while holding his small daughter securely against his chest.
He glared across the room at his wife with intense burning eyes of anger.
Richard: An accident does not look like what I just saw with my eyes!
Elena: You cannot possibly blame me for a slippery floor railing!
Richard: You were standing right behind her and did not even reach out!
Elena reached the bottom of the grand staircase and stopped near the brass banister.
She gestured wildly with her trembling hands as she tried to defend her actions.
Elena: I panicked when she lost her balance near the open top step!
Richard: You wanted something terrible to happen so you could hurt my custody case!
The two security guards in the room shifted uncomfortably near the front entry doors.
They knew the couple had been fighting in court over the family trust fund.
Elena: That is a terrible thing to say to your own wife!
Richard: You stopped being a real wife to me a very long time ago!
Richard stepped forward sharply toward her while pointing one finger straight ahead in fury.
Elena startled at his sudden movement and tripped backward onto the hard marble floor.
She gasped loudly as she sat on the cold surface looking up at him.
Richard: Don't you ever lay a hand on my daughter again!
Elena: You are letting your hatred for me cloud your common sense judgment!
Richard: My judgment is clearer right now than it has ever been before today!
The little girl stopped crying briefly to look between her father and her mother.
Richard turned his back on Elena and walked toward the large front estate doors.
Richard: We are leaving this house right now before anything else happens here.
Elena: You cannot take her away from this home without my full permission!
Richard: Watch me leave and try to stop me if you dare!