Clara: Dad! What are you doing talking to him?! He humiliated me! He threw the ring on the floor!
Arthur: Clara, sit down and keep your mouth shut.
Clara: Excuse me?! I am your daughter! You are supposed to ruin him!
Arthur: You lied to me, Clara. You told me Mark was attempting to liquidate his sister’s trust for his tech company. You had me draft a petition to strip him of his rights as Lily's guardian!
Clara: Because he’s incompetent! Look at him! He cares more about this little orphan’s hair than securing a ten-million-dollar partnership with our family!
Mark: Stop calling her an orphan! She is my daughter!
Lily: Daddy, I want to go home... I don't like this place.
Mark: We are going home very soon, sweetie. Just hold onto Daddy.
Clara: You aren't going anywhere! If you walk out, I will file emergency custody papers right now! I'll tell the judge you're an unfit parent, that you snapped and smashed the venue furniture in front of her!
Mark: You really think anyone will believe you after what you did to her hair?
Clara: Who are they going to believe? A small-town guy with a struggling business, or a top attorney’s daughter with five eyewitnesses in the bridal suite?
Brenda: Six eyewitnesses, Clara. And I'm not lying for you anymore.
Brenda stepped out from behind the hallway pillar, holding up her smartphone. A little red light was flashing on the top corner of the screen.
Clara: Brenda... what are you doing with your phone?
Brenda: I recorded the whole thing. The audio of you screaming at Lily, calling her a brat, holding her down, and shaving her head. I recorded you threatening to fire me, too.
Clara: Delete that right now! That’s illegal! Texas is a one-party consent state, but you were in my private room!
Brenda: It was a public dressing rental paid for by Mark’s company card, Clara. And I was in the room as an invited party. It’s 100% legal, and I just uploaded it to a secure server.
Mark: Thank you, Brenda.
Clara: You traitor! You little snake! I made you who you are!
Arthur: Clara, stop! You have destroyed this family's reputation enough today! If that video gets out, our law firm will be disbarred!
Clara: Then pay Mark off! Give him a settlement! Just make him stand at the altar so the press doesn't destroy us!
Mark: There is no price in the world that would make me stand next to you again.
Mark took a step toward Clara, his eye level fixed on her pale, trembling face. The power dynamics had shifted completely.





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