Evelyn held the phone to her ear, her face red with anger as she waited for the estate gate security guard to answer her call.
Evelyn: Pick up the phone, you idiot! I need three guards in the main hall immediately!
Elena: Leo, run toward the front door! Get outside and hide in the bushes near the front gate!
Leo: I don't want to leave you alone with her, Elena!
Elena: Go, Leo! Run fast! I'll be right behind you!
Before Leo could take three steps down the long marble corridor, Evelyn dropped her phone onto the plush floor rug and sprinted forward with surprising speed, grabbing the front of Elena’s uniform collar.
Evelyn: You are not taking him anywhere!
Elena: Let go of me, Mrs. Sterling!
The two women struggled near the entrance of the formal dining room. Evelyn scratched at Elena's face with her sharp manicured nails, trying to force her to drop the sledgehammer. Elena held tight, using her body weight to push Evelyn back against the carved oak wall paneling.
Evelyn: Do you have any idea how much money is at stake here?! Five million dollars in life insurance payouts and ten million in family trust funds!
Elena: You sold a child's life for paper!
Evelyn: He is not my son! He was just a barrier between me and Marcus's entire fortune! I spent two years pretending to be a loving stepmother while waiting for my chance!
Leo: Stop hurting Elena! Leave her alone!
Leo picked up a heavy bronze candlestick from a hallway side table and threw it at Evelyn's feet, striking her ankle. Evelyn shrieked in pain and released her grip on Elena’s uniform.
Evelyn: You little brat! I should have locked you in the attic instead!
Elena: Stand behind me, Leo! Stay close!
Elena grabbed Leo's trembling hand and pushed him behind her protective frame once again. Plaster dust was falling from their clothes, leaving white footprints all over the dark hardwood flooring.
Evelyn: You think you're a hero, don't you? You're a housemaid making fifteen dollars an hour! Who do you think the judge will believe in court? A respected Dallas philanthropist or a temp worker with zero money for a defense lawyer?
Elena: The truth doesn't need an expensive lawyer, Mrs. Sterling. Look at this hole! Look at his face!
Evelyn: I can pay the construction workers five thousand dollars each to testify that you built this cavity yourself to blackmail my husband!
Elena: You really are heartless, aren't you?
Evelyn: I am a survivor! I came from nothing, and I will not let a middle-school dropout maid take away my life of luxury!
Evelyn reached into her robe pocket again and pulled out a small set of brass keys, lunging toward the wall opening in a panic to try to slide a decorative heavy wooden cabinet in front of the broken drywall hole.
Evelyn: Help me push this cabinet! If we cover the wall before Marcus arrives, I will pay you fifty thousand dollars in cash right now!
Elena: Keep your blood money!
Evelyn: ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, ELENA! Just walk out the back door and never come back to Dallas!
Elena: I would rather live in poverty for the rest of my life than take one single cent from a monster like you!
Just as Evelyn tried to grab Elena’s shoulder again, heavy tires skidded loudly on the gravel driveway right outside the front glass doors of the villa.





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