Evelyn: Are you completely insane, Mark?! You're firing me?! You're kicking your own wife out of our home over a thieving maid?!
Mark: I'm not kicking you out over a maid, Evelyn. I'm kicking you out because I know exactly where that ring is.
Evelyn blinked rapidly, her face turning pale beneath her heavy blush. She pulled her arm away from Mark's grip, stepping back against the polished kitchen island.
Evelyn: What is that supposed to mean? I told you, it was stolen from my nightstand!
Mark: Clara, shut off the water.
Clara quickly reached over and twisted the handle, cutting off the rushing sound of the faucet. The sudden silence in the penthouse kitchen was deafening.
Clara: Mr. Sterling, I swear I didn't—
Mark: I know you didn't, Clara. Step over here, please. You don't need to clean another dish today.
Evelyn: Mark, don't you dare talk to her like she's guest! She works for us! She scrubs our toilets!
Mark: She works for me. And starting right now, you don't live here anymore.
Mark reached into his suit jacket, pulled out his leather wallet, and extracted a folded receipt printed on heavy bond paper. He tossed it onto the kitchen counter right between them.
Mark: Care to explain this, Evelyn?
Evelyn glanced down at the paper, her breath catching in her throat. Her eyes darted from the paper up to Mark's face.
Evelyn: That's... that's just a appraisal document. For my insurance policy.
Mark: No, that's a pawn shop slip from downtown Dallas. Dated yesterday afternoon at three o'clock. The same time you claimed you were getting your nails done in Highland Park.
Clara gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She looked from the paper to Evelyn, who was staring at Mark as if she had just seen a ghost.
Clara: Mrs. Sterling... you sold your own ring?
Evelyn: Shut up, Clara! Keep your mouth shut!
Mark: Don't yell at her! You pawned a forty-thousand-dollar family heirloom ring for fifteen thousand dollars cash. Why, Evelyn? Why did you need fifteen thousand dollars in untraceable cash yesterday afternoon?
Evelyn: It's my ring! My grandmother gave it to me! I can do whatever I want with my own property!
Mark: It was insured under our joint estate policy. Framing Clara for theft means you were planning to file a fraudulent insurance claim tomorrow morning to double your money. Isn't that right?
Evelyn stayed silent, her lower lip trembling. The polished confidence she had worn moments ago was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, trapped glare.
Evelyn: You don't understand the pressure I'm under, Mark! You're always at the office, always working on your firm's merger! You don't care about my life!
Mark: So you framed an innocent woman who works sixty hours a week to send money home to her family? You were going to let the police take her away? Let her have a criminal record?
Evelyn: She's a maid, Mark! People like her bounce back! If I get caught with debt, my whole social life is ruined!
Clara: People like me? I have a eight-year-old daughter, Mrs. Sterling! If I went to jail today, who would take care of her?!
Evelyn: Nobody asked you, Clara!
Mark: I'm asking her. And I'm telling you, Evelyn, you have twenty minutes to gather your clothes and get out of my house before I call the police myself to report grand larceny and insurance fraud.
Evelyn: You wouldn't dare. Think about our son, Leo! Think about what this will do to his reputation at school!
Mark: I am thinking about Leo. That's why I don't want him raised by a liar who frames hard-working people to cover up her own gambling debts.
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