The purse ripped open, spilling its contents across the pristine white marble floor in front of the grand stairs.
Lipstick tubes, credit cards, and a forged passport rolled across the stone tiles.
Among them, spinning in a tight circle before clinking to a stop, was Clara's platinum engagement ring, set with a three-carat sapphire.
Lily: That's Mommy's ring! She stole it!
Clara: She pulled it off my finger while I was knocked out from the fall...
Evelyn: She gave it to me! She said she didn't want anything from this marriage anymore!
Carter: You disgust me to my very soul, Evelyn.
Evelyn lunged toward the floor, trying to scoop up the passport and the diamond ring with claw-like nails.
Carter stepped forward, planting his heavy wingtip shoe squarely over the center of the documents.
Carter: Don't touch a single piece of evidence.
Panicking, Evelyn scrambled backward, her high stiletto heel catching on the edge of the displaced Persian rug.
Her balance snapped, and she pitched forward with a sharp shriek, slamming flat onto her stomach across the slick marble floor.
Her forehead cracked against the stone with a loud, hollow smack, sending her champagne gown twisting around her legs.
Evelyn: Ow! My face! You tripped me!
Carter: Nobody touched you, Evelyn. You fell over your own lies.
The grand double doors were pushed open again, framing two uniformed officers from the Travis County Sheriff's Department.
Their service weapons were holstered, but their hands rested firmly on their duty belts as they surveyed the chaos.
Deputy Miller: We received an emergency 911 dispatch regarding an unlawful imprisonment and domestic assault.
Carter: Officer, thank God. Right here on the floor.
Evelyn rolled onto her hip, blood dripping from a split above her eyebrow, staining her expensive silk collar.
Evelyn: Officer, arrest him! Carter Vance assaulted me! He pushed me down and stole my belongings!
Deputy Miller: Ma'am, stay where you are and keep your hands visible on the floor.
Deputy Ross: Mr. Vance, is this the woman you called about regarding the missing person report?
Carter: Yes. She locked my wife in an underground cellar beneath this hatch three days ago.
Deputy Miller glanced toward the open stone panel in the floor, seeing the dark opening and the pry bar still lying beside it.
Deputy Miller: Sweet Jesus. Deputy Ross, call emergency medical services immediately for transport.
Deputy Ross: Already rolling, sir. They are two minutes out.
Evelyn: This is a misunderstanding! I am an executive at Vance Capital! I demand my lawyer right now!
Carter: You are going straight to federal prison!
Carter pointed down ruthlessly at the disgraced woman sprawled across the floor, his voice booming beneath the high vaulted ceiling.
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