Evelyn blinked, her painted smile freezing in place.
Evelyn: What do you mean, Carter? What is that?
Carter: Take a look for yourself.
He held the phone steady right in front of Evelyn's widening eyes.
Evelyn: That... that's just a blurry screen. It doesn't prove anything.
Carter: It is high-definition security footage from the hidden camera inside my personal office vault. The camera you didn't know existed.
Sarah remained on the floor, gasping for air as her chest heaved with heavy sobs.
Sarah: I begged her to check the cameras, Mr. Vance. I told her I didn't take anything.
Carter: Stand up, Sarah. Get off the floor.
Carter extended a hand and gently helped Sarah to her feet, placing himself firmly between her and his fiancee.
Evelyn: Carter, why are you touching her? She's the help! She works for minimum wage!
Carter: And you are wearing a five-hundred-thousand-dollar engagement ring paid for by my family estate, yet you act like a common criminal.
Evelyn: How dare you speak to me like that! We are getting married in three days! Our wedding is on every social page in New York!
Carter: Look at the screen, Evelyn. Look at it right now.
He shoved the glowing screen closer to her nose. The video clearly showed Evelyn entering the private study at 10:14 AM wearing silk gloves.
Carter: That's you opening the wall safe using the code you copied from my desk ledger.
Evelyn: I was just looking for my passport! You know we need our documents for the honeymoon trip to Paris!
Carter: And is this your passport?
Carter forwarded the clip three seconds. The video showed Evelyn slipping a heavy velvet box inside Sarah's personal canvas tote bag hanging in the service pantry.
Sarah: Oh God... she put it there on purpose?
Evelyn: That video is edited! You can't trust software these days! Carter, someone hacked your system to frame me!
Carter: Our head of security personally handed me this file ten minutes ago in my executive office downtown. Nobody hacked anything.
Evelyn: Why would I ever steal my own future jewelry? That diamond necklace was going to belong to me the minute we signed the marriage license anyway!
Carter: That necklace was never going to belong to you.
Evelyn scoffed loudly, crossing her arms over her expensive designer dress.
Evelyn: Excuse me? It's part of your mother's trust fund! As your legal wife, that jewelry belongs in my collection!
Carter: My mother wrote a specific clause in her last will and testament before she passed away five years ago.
Sarah: Mrs. Vance was such a wonderful lady... she always treated the staff with dignity.
Evelyn: Nobody asked you, Sarah! Pack your filthy rags and get out of our sight before I have my father's lawyers destroy your life!
Carter: Stop yelling at her, Evelyn. You don't have the authority to fire a single person in this household.
Evelyn: I am the mistress of this estate!
Carter: Not anymore.
Evelyn's face paled, the rage in her eyes instantly morphing into sheer panic.
Evelyn: Carter... baby, what are you saying? You're letting a maid stand between our future? Think about our families, our business merger!
Carter: The merger is dead. And so is our engagement.
Evelyn: You're insane! You can't call off the wedding over a stupid misunderstanding!
Carter: This wasn't a misunderstanding. It was a calculated trap to ruin an innocent girl's life so you could take what wasn't yours.
Evelyn: Why do you care about her so much? She's nobody!
Carter stepped closer, his jaw tightening until the muscle ticked beneath his skin.
Carter: Because that necklace was left for one specific person. And that person isn't you.
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