Harrison: Where... where did you get that ring?
Victoria: Harrison, tell this woman to unhand me right now! She just put her hands on me!
Elena: I said don't make me cause a scene, Miss Victoria. You should listen to your fiancé.
Harrison stepped between the two women, his hands trembling slightly as he gestured toward Elena’s hand. The golden eagle engraved over the initials was unmistakable. It was the crest of the Sterling family estate, a piece of jewelry missing for over twenty years.
Harrison: Elena... answer me. That signet ring. It belongs to my father's line.
Victoria: What are you talking about, Harrison? She’s a domestic worker! She probably stole it from one of the bedrooms upstairs!
Elena: I didn't steal anything. This was given to me by my mother before she died.
Victoria: She's lying! Call security right now! We are not going to let a thief ruin our engagement party!
Harrison: Quiet for a second, Victoria! Elena, my grandfather had three of those rings cast in 1980. One for my father, one for my uncle, and one that vanished when my aunt disappeared after the lawsuit.
Elena: Your aunt didn't disappear. She was forced out of the family estate by your father's lawyers after the trust fund dispute.
Victoria sneered, reaching for her cell phone inside her small evening clutch.
Victoria: This is absurd. You think you can make up some trashy fairytale to cover up stealing heavy jewelry from a private residence?
Elena: Call the police then, Miss Victoria. Please do. Let them run the record on this ring and the estate papers currently sitting in my room.
Harrison: Estate papers? What papers are you talking about?
Elena: The original land deed and the biological lineage records from the probate court in Austin.
Harrison took a deep breath, looking back and forth between his furious fiancée and the calm maid standing before him in a practical uniform. The commotion was starting to draw attention from nearby guests in the hallway.
Harrison: We need to move this into the study. Right now.
Victoria: We are not hiding in the study with the help! Guests are waiting for our toast!
Harrison: I don't care about the toast right now! Look at the crest, Victoria! That is the primary family seal!
Elena: I am happy to show everyone in the ballroom, if you prefer.
Victoria: You insolent little—
Harrison: Enough! Elena, walk ahead of us into my father's office. Victoria, close the double doors behind us.
Elena picked up the fallen linens, neatly folded them, and set them on the side table. She walked with a steady, upright posture straight toward the heavy mahogany doors of the library. Harrison followed closely behind her, his pulse racing as memories of his father’s secretive meetings with corporate lawyers came flooding back. Victoria stomped behind them, her red lace dress swishing aggressively with every step.
Inside the dimly lit library, towering bookshelves lined the walls, filled with legal volumes and family histories. Harrison locked the door behind them, shutting out the muted string quartet playing in the grand hall.
Harrison: Talk. Now. Who was your mother?
Elena: My mother was Margaret Sterling. The sister your father erased from the family business twenty-five years ago.
Victoria: Margaret died penniless in Houston! Everyone in high society knows that story!
Elena: She didn't die penniless. She died working two jobs while your father used fraud to block her inheritance payout!
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