The silence that fell over the private dining room was suffocating.
Julian: Mother... tell me that’s not true. Tell me Dad didn't write that!
Victoria: Arthur was spiteful until the bitter end. He never understood how business works!
Julian: So it IS true! If she signs that custody waiver, I lose everything?
Elena: Exactly, Julian. Your mother tried to manipulate me, but she almost bankrupted you instead.
Victoria: We would have fought the hospital in court! We have twenty attorneys on retainer!
Elena: And they will charge you five hundred dollars an hour while the press prints every page of your offshore tax fraud.
Julian grabbed the prenup off the table with shaking hands and ripped it straight down the center.
Victoria: Julian! Stop that right now!
Julian: Are you insane, Mother? You almost made me sign away thirty million dollars!
Victoria: I was trying to protect our family dignity from an opportunist!
Elena: The only opportunists in this room are sitting across from me.
Elena twisted the massive four-carat diamond ring from her left finger.
Julian: Elena, wait. Put the ring back on. We can fix this right now.
Elena: There is nothing left to fix, Julian.
Julian: We can fire my mother’s lawyers! We can get married tomorrow morning with no prenup at all!
Elena: You think this was just about money to me?
Julian: We love each other! We’ve been planning this celebration for eighteen months!
Elena: You sat there in silence while your mother tried to take my future baby away.
Victoria: Julian, let her walk. She is bluffing about the hospital trust!
Elena: Call Marcus Vance right now, Victoria. He’s the senior partner at Vance & Sterling.
Victoria froze, her phone resting on the white linen tablecloth untouched.
Elena: Go on. Call him. Ask him why he filed paperwork with the county registrar at five o’clock this evening.
Victoria: Marcus wouldn't betray me. He was Arthur's best friend for forty years.
Elena: Exactly. He was Arthur's friend. Not yours.
Elena placed the diamond ring on top of the torn prenup papers, the stone glinting cold under the overhead lamps.
Elena: Have a lovely dinner, Mrs. Sterling.
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