David: Look at me, Clara. Look at me. Are you hurt?
Clara: My face... it burns so bad, David...
David: I know. I know. I'm right here.
Victoria: David! Are you insane?! You put your hands on me for a servant?!
David: Shut your mouth, Victoria! Don't you say another word!
Victoria: I am your wife! I run this estate!
David: You run nothing in this house. Not anymore.
Victoria gasped, stepping back against the gold-trimmed wall as she clutched her red cheek[cite: 1].
Victoria: She was trying to steal from my jewelry safe! I caught her in my dressing room!
Clara: I wasn't stealing... I swear I wasn't...
David: I know you weren't, Clara. Hush now, save your breath.
David pulled his silk handkerchief from his breast pocket, carefully wiping the sticky red liquid from Clara's eyes[cite: 1].
Victoria: You're actually believing her?! She's a nobody! A girl we hired six months ago to handle the guest quarters!
David: She isn't a servant, Victoria.
Victoria: What are you talking about? She wears an apron every single day!
David: She wears an apron because my father's will demanded she learn every inch of this business from the ground up before taking her seat on the board.
Victoria froze, her arms dropping to her sides as the color drained from her face[cite: 1].
Victoria: What... what board?
David: The Sterling Global Estate Trust.
Victoria: That's... that's impossible! Your father's trust fund only belongs to direct heirs!
David: Exactly.
Clara wiped her eyes, her hand trembling as she looked up at the woman who had spent months torturing her[cite: 1].
Clara: My mother was Eleanor Sterling. My father was your husband's late brother, Thomas.
Victoria: No... no! Thomas died twenty years ago in Europe! He didn't have a child!
David: He had Clara. And my father spent the last five years of his life tracking her down to give her her legal inheritance.
Victoria's jaw dropped in absolute horror[cite: 1].
Victoria: You... you knew who she was this whole time?!
David: Of course I knew. We agreed to keep it quiet until the final probate court ruling this afternoon.
Victoria: But... but you let her clean the floors!
David: She chose to clean the floors! She wanted to understand the family estate without receiving special treatment!
Clara: And while I was cleaning, Victoria, I saw everything you've been doing in this mansion for the last six months.