Victoria: You struck me! A high-society heiress laid out on the dirt!
Daniel: You dropped an infant from a third-story terrace, Victoria!
Victoria: I tripped on the outdoor rug! You have no right to hit me!
Daniel: The rug is ten feet away from the balustrade, you lying monster!
Victoria: My hands were slick from lotion! It was an innocent mistake!
Daniel: Innocent mistakes don't involve screaming that a child is a mistake before letting go!
Maya sobbed violently, her face buried into the crook of Daniel's neck as her tiny fists clutched his lapels.
Daniel: Shh, little angel. Daddy is holding you. Nobody is ever touching you again.
Victoria: Look at your expensive suit, Daniel! You're getting dirt all over imported Italian wool!
Daniel: I don't care about the suit, Victoria! I care about my flesh and blood!
Victoria: Flesh and blood? You don't even know whose blood runs in that brat's veins!
Daniel clutched the antique gold locket tightly in his palm, the sharp metal edges digging into his skin.
Daniel: Why do you have Sarah's family locket around your neck, Victoria?
Victoria: It was in the master jewelry safe! I wore it to honor your late wife for the charity gala!
Daniel: Sarah was buried with her jewelry, Victoria. This locket disappeared from the private maternity clinic!
Victoria: Then Sarah gave it to a nurse before she passed away! How am I supposed to know?!
Daniel: The photo inside shows you holding Maya forty-eight hours after she was born!
Victoria's eyes flickered with sudden panic, her hands scrambling against the rough stone stairs.
Victoria: That isn't Maya! That was my sister's baby from California!
Daniel: Your sister lives in London and has never had children, Victoria.
Victoria: You're twisting every single detail to paint me as a villain!
Daniel: You were in that clinic room the night my wife drew her last breath.
Victoria: I was there to support you! I was your best friend's widow trying to help!
Daniel: You told me the doctors tried everything to stop Sarah's cardiac arrest.
Victoria: They did try everything! The entire emergency ward was working on her!
Daniel: Then why did your private trust account wire four hundred thousand dollars to the head nurse that same midnight?
Victoria stopped moving, her mouth opening in a silent gasp as the morning breeze rustled her beige blouse.
Victoria: That wire was an anonymous donation to the hospital's pediatric foundation!
Daniel: It wasn't an anonymous donation, Victoria. The money went directly into a personal account in Nassau.
Victoria: Who gave you access to my family banking records?!
Daniel: The federal district attorney unsealed your offshore accounts at dawn today.
Victoria: You... You had federal agents digging through my private holdings?!
Daniel: I had them digging into the firm that claimed forty million dollars of my late wife's shipping assets.
Victoria slowly stood up, brushing gray stone dust from her knees as her arrogance crept back into her voice.
Victoria: Even if you found some accounting errors, you can't touch me, Daniel!
Daniel: You think your family's political connections will protect you from attempted murder?
Victoria: Attempted murder?! The baby doesn't have a single scratch on her!
Daniel: Because I dove across concrete to catch her while you watched with a smile!
Victoria: The green awning caught her momentum! She was never in fatal danger!
Daniel: The green awning is decorative canvas! If she hit the frame, her skull would have shattered!
Victoria crossed her arms, sneering down at the father and child on the stone patio.
Victoria: We signed our prenuptial agreement on Friday, Daniel. Half of this estate belongs to me!
Daniel: That prenuptial agreement isn't worth the ink used to sign it, Victoria.
Victoria: My corporate lawyers drafted every line! It guarantees me thirty million dollars upon separation!
Daniel: A contract signed by a fraud is completely null and void under Texas statutory law.
Victoria took a sharp breath, her thin fingers trembling as she pointed toward the mansion doors.
Victoria: I am the mistress of Sterling Manor! You cannot cast me out into the street!
Daniel: You won't be going to the street, Victoria. You're going straight to a maximum-security prison.
A heavy crunch of tires sounded on the gravel driveway as two patrol cars sped toward the stone courtyard.