Elena: Ethan, look at the baby's skin! Feel how cold he is[cite: 1]!
Ethan: Don't speak my name! Marcus, call the precinct and bring the handcuffs in right now[cite: 1]!
Alyssa: Thank God you arrived in time, darling! She went completely insane[cite: 1]!
Alyssa scrambled up from the floor, smoothing down her glittering sequins while holding her lower back with a groan[cite: 1].
Alyssa: Look at my dress, Ethan! She tore the hem when she shoved me into the marble baseboard[cite: 1]!
Elena: You poured ice on him! Look at the couch cushions! The ice is melting right there[cite: 1]!
Ethan glanced down at the sofa, noticing dozens of wet, melting cubes soaking into the expensive white silk fabric[cite: 1].
Ethan: Why is there ice on my custom sofa, Alyssa[cite: 1]?
Alyssa: She threw the bowl at me, Ethan! She was trying to blind me so she could grab Toby and run away[cite: 1]!
Elena: That is the most ridiculous lie I have ever heard! I have worked for your family for two years[cite: 1]!
Alyssa: You worked here because my mother took pity on your poor family! And this is how you repay our kindness[cite: 1]?!
Ethan: Elena, hand the child to Alyssa right now[cite: 1].
Elena: No! I won't let her near him! She will kill him the second you turn your back[cite: 1]!
Ethan stepped into her space, his towering frame casting a dark shadow over Elena and the crying infant[cite: 1].
Ethan: I will not ask you a second time. Hand over my son[cite: 1].
Elena: He isn't just your son, Ethan! He is my nephew[cite: 1]!
The entire room froze in place, the only sound being Toby's ragged whimpers against Elena's cotton apron[cite: 1].
Alyssa's painted smile vanished, replaced by an expression of pure, icy panic[cite: 1].
Alyssa: Shut your mouth, Elena! Marcus, take her out through the kitchen service exit[cite: 1]!
Ethan: Wait. What did you just call him, Elena[cite: 1]?
Elena: Toby is my sister Sarah's biological child! And you know that better than anyone in this house[cite: 1]!
Ethan: Sarah was an orphan! She grew up in foster homes across northern Texas[cite: 1]!
Elena: Sarah was separated from me when our parents died in that highway accident twenty years ago[cite: 1]!
Alyssa: She's fabricating stories to avoid arrest, Ethan! Don't let her stall until her accomplices get away[cite: 1]!
Ethan: Alyssa, quiet down! Elena, where is your proof? Why are you scrubbing floors in my home if you're her sister[cite: 1]?
Elena: Because when Sarah passed away in that hospital room four months ago, she gave me a key[cite: 1]!
Alyssa: What key?! She doesn't have any key! She's a common thief[cite: 1]!
Elena pulled a silver chain from under her uniform collar, revealing a small brass key stamped with a three-digit code[cite: 1].
Elena: Key number four-one-two, Box B, at the First National Depository downtown[cite: 1].
Ethan’s face went dead pale, his breath catching in his throat as he stared at the tiny brass object[cite: 1].
Ethan: That's... That's my late father's private security deposit box[cite: 1].
Elena: Sarah told me before she died that if Alyssa ever entered this nursery, I had to open that safe[cite: 1].
Alyssa: Ethan, don't look at that junk! Call the police and have her removed from our sight[cite: 1]!
Ethan: Why did Sarah have the key to my father's private depository, Elena[cite: 1]?
Elena: Because your father didn't die of a heart attack, Ethan. He was poisoned by the woman you brought to your bed[cite: 1].
Alyssa gasped, stumbling backward against the marble console as the two bodyguards exchanged nervous glances behind Ethan[cite: 1].