The polished white marble of the entryway felt like ice against Elena's bare knees. She wrapped both arms around four-year-old Lily, pulling the trembling girl tight against her worn maid uniform.

Victoria: Get your filthy hands off that child, you worthless maid!

Elena: Please, Miss Victoria! She almost fell down the grand staircase! I only grabbed her to protect her!

Victoria: Shut up! You pushed her so you could play the hero! You think I don't see right through your pathetic act?

Lily: Mommy Victoria, stop yelling! Elena caught me! Elena was nice!

Victoria: Silence, Lily! Go to your room right now before I punish you both!

Elena squeezed her eyes shut, hot tears running down her reddened cheeks as Victoria loomed over them in her sharp emerald green suit, her fingers clawed into tight fists.

Victoria: You are fired from this house! You leave without a single dollar, and if you ever show your face near this estate again, I will have the police lock you up for good!

Elena: I have worked for Mr. Sterling for six years. Please, let me speak to him before you throw me out into the street. I have nowhere else to go.

Victoria: Patrick does whatever I tell him to do. We are getting married in two months, which makes me the lady of this mansion. Pack your rags and get lost!

Victoria raised her hand, ready to strike Elena across the face, when the massive front doors burst open with a deafening crash.

Patrick: DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!

Victoria froze mid-swing, her polished jaw dropping as Patrick Sterling stormed into the foyer, his eyes burning with absolute fury.

Victoria: Patrick, darling! Thank god you're back early! You won't believe what this thieving maid just tried to do to your daughter!

Patrick: I saw everything, Victoria. Every single second of it.

Elena looked up from the floor, clutching Lily tightly as Patrick walked straight past his fiancee, pulling his phone from his navy jacket with a look that promised pure destruction.