Victoria rushed across the library with her eyes wide with total fury.
Victoria: What do you think you are doing with that frame, you fool!
Mary: I slipped, ma'am, I was only trying to steady myself!
Victoria: That artwork costs more money than you will ever earn in your life!
Victoria reached up and pulled Mary down by her uniform collar.
Mary lost her balance and tumbled onto the hard marble floor below.
Her tray knocked against the floor with a sharp and echoing crash.
Mary: Please, Mrs. Sterling, it was an accident!
Victoria: Know your place, you worthless maid!
Victoria stood over Mary with her face twisted in deep disgust.
She raised her hand high and pointed a finger right at Mary's chest.
Victoria: You are a clumsy old woman who ruins everything she touches!
Mary stayed on the floor, holding her bruised knee in quiet pain.
Tears welled up in her worn eyes as she looked at her cruel boss.
Mary: I have worked hard for you every single day without rest.
Victoria: Hard work means nothing when you are completely useless!
Victoria grabbed a stack of dusty papers off the desk and threw them down.
The white pages scattered across the marble floor like fresh winter snow.
Victoria: Pick up every single paper before I call security to drag you out!
Mary began gathering the scattered sheets with her trembling fingers.
As she reached under the desk, her eyes caught sight of a yellow folder.
The folder had her own original birth city stamped across the top cover.
Curiosity made Mary slide the folder out from under the heavy desk cabinet.
Inside was an old hospital record dated thirty-three long years ago.
It held a small black and white photograph of a newborn baby boy.
On his tiny foot was a distinct birthmark shaped like a crescent moon.
Mary pulled her hand to her mouth to stifle a sudden sharp sob.
She recognized that birthmark because she had drawn it in her journal daily.
It was the exact mark her lost baby had when he was born long ago.
Victoria: Why are you snooping through my private cabinet, you old thief!
Victoria snatched the yellow folder out of Mary's hands with sudden speed.
Mary: Where did you get this photograph, Mrs. Sterling?
Victoria: That is none of your business, you nosy old servant!
Mary: That baby is my son, I would know that mark anywhere!
Victoria burst out into a loud, mocking laugh that filled the high room.
Victoria: Your son? You are a penniless maid who scrubs floors for bread!
Victoria: Julian would never belong to an old worthless woman like you!
Mary stood up slowly despite the pain shooting through her leg.
Mary: Julian? Is Julian the boy in this photograph?
Victoria realized her slip of the tongue and her expression hardened quickly.
Victoria: Get out of this house right now before I call the police!
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