Victoria: You called the police to our private property over a domestic misunderstanding?!
Daniel: I called the Texas Rangers forty-five minutes ago, Victoria. Before I even left downtown.
Victoria: You planned this entire ambush! You acted like everything was normal at breakfast!
Daniel: I needed to make sure my daughter was safe before I confronted a sociopath.
Victoria: I cared for that baby while you were locked in boardroom meetings for six months!
Daniel: You didn't care for her, Victoria. You kept her locked in the nursery wing with paid sitters!
Victoria: Wealthy families hire professional nannies! That is standard practice in our social circle!
Daniel: Professional nannies who were paid fifty thousand dollars to keep their mouths shut about your temper!
The front French doors swung open, and Mrs. Gable rushed out onto the stone patio carrying a warm wool blanket.
Mrs. Gable: Daniel! Oh merciful God, I saw the fall from the kitchen window!
Daniel: Take Maya inside, Mrs. Gable. Wrap her in the blanket and check her breathing.
Mrs. Gable: Come to Nana, precious baby. Oh, you're shaking like a little leaf...
Mrs. Gable gently lifted the infant into her arms, shooting a look of pure, burning hatred at Victoria.
Mrs. Gable: You are an evil, heartless woman! Sarah trusted you like a sister!
Victoria: Get back into your kitchen, maid! You are dismissed from this household effective right now!
Daniel: Mrs. Gable works for the Sterling Trust, Victoria. You don't have the power to fire a single blade of grass here.
Victoria: Our marriage announcement goes out to the press at five o'clock! I have full executive authority!
Daniel: Look at this folder, Victoria. Look at what the probate court ratified two hours ago.
Daniel pulled a thick cream-colored legal envelope from his inner coat pocket, tossing it onto the stone table.
Victoria: What is that? More forged threats from your private investigators?!
Daniel: This is the holographic testamentary codicil signed by Sarah three days before her delivery.
Victoria's hands froze in mid-air, her eyes locking onto the raised gold seal of the Texas Probate Court.
Victoria: Sarah never signed any codicil! Her lawyer swore the original will was the only valid document!
Daniel: Her lawyer was your brother, Victoria. And he conveniently hid the addendum in his private office safe.
Victoria: If the document was in his safe, you had no legal right to touch it!
Daniel: The Texas State Bar raided his law firm at seven o'clock this morning with a federal search warrant.
Victoria swallowed hard, her throat clicking as her face drained of every ounce of color.
Victoria: Richard... They raided Richard's office?!
Daniel: Your brother surrendered every single hidden document to save himself from thirty years for corporate fraud.
Victoria: That coward! That pathetic, weak-willed coward! He swore to our father he would protect the firm!
Daniel: Read line fourteen aloud, Victoria. Read what happens to the Sterling estate.
Victoria leaned over the stone table, her manicured fingers trembling so violently the parchment rattled.
Victoria: 'In the event of my demise, all voting stock, real estate, and maritime assets transfer solely to my child, Maya Sterling'...
Daniel: Keep reading. Read the restriction clause regarding remarriage.
Victoria: 'Any future spouse of Daniel Sterling shall have zero claim, zero conservatorship, and zero managerial rights over the family estate'...
Daniel: Which means even if we stood at the altar, you would never touch a single dime of this fortune.
Victoria: That's impossible! Sarah loved me! She would never write such a hateful restriction!
Daniel: Sarah knew you poisoned her first pregnancy, Victoria.
The quiet stone courtyard went deathly still, the only sound being the distant thrum of the Texas wind through the oak trees.
Victoria's knees buckled slightly, her hands grabbing the edge of the stone table for support.
Victoria: What... What did you just say to me?
Daniel: Sarah figured out why she lost our first baby three years ago at the lake house.
Victoria: That was an accidental miscarriage! The obstetrician confirmed it was natural complications!
Daniel: The obstetrician found lethal traces of pennyroyal extract in her blood work last week after we exhumed her medical records.
Victoria let out a ragged, trembling breath, her eyes darting toward the open gates where police sirens grew deafeningly loud.
Victoria: You exhumed her medical records... Behind my back?!
Daniel: I needed the truth about the woman sleeping under my roof, Victoria. And today, I have every single answer.