Marcus: Lucia! Stop! Please, just wait for a second!
Lucia: Please, Mr. Sterling... leave me alone. I am just trying to do my job.
Marcus: Don't call me Mr. Sterling. It's me, Marcus.
Marcus caught up to the service cart in the long corridor, reaching out to gently touch the metal rim so she couldn't keep pushing it.
Lucia: You shouldn't be back here. Your wife is waiting for you in the hall.
Marcus: She is not my wife anymore. I am completely finished with her.
Lucia wiped the tears from her face, her uniform worn out at the cuffs and her shoes scuffed from long hours on her feet.
Lucia: Marcus, please. You have your billionaire life, your luxury business, and your high-society galas. I don't belong in your world.
Marcus: You were my world, Lucia. For five years, you were everything I had.
Lucia: That was before your family told you I wasn't good enough. That was before you signed those divorce papers.
Marcus felt a sharp pang in his chest as he looked down at her swollen stomach beneath the apron.
Marcus: How long, Lucia? How long have you been living like this?
Lucia: I am seven months pregnant, Marcus.
Marcus: Is it... is the baby mine?
Lucia turned her head away, her bottom lip trembling as she tried to keep her voice steady.
Lucia: Does it even matter to you now?
Marcus: It matters more than my own life! Tell me the truth, Lucia!
Lucia: Yes! It's yours, Marcus! It's your baby!
Marcus dropped to his knees right there on the hard hallway floor, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his forehead against her stomach.
Marcus: Oh god... Lucia, I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry.
Lucia: Get up, Marcus. Someone is going to see you.
Marcus: Let them see! I don't care about any of them!
Heavy, sharp footsteps echoed down the corridor behind them as Victoria came striding down the hall, her red dress swishing aggressively.
Victoria: Marcus! Have you completely lost your mind?! Get off the floor right now!
Marcus: Victoria, if you take one more step toward us, I will have security throw you onto the street.
Victoria: You hit me in front of everyone! You humiliated me for a maid!
Marcus: I hit you because you are a cruel, heartless woman who thinks money makes you better than everyone else.
Victoria: She's a nobody, Marcus! She cleans toilets for eight dollars an hour!
Marcus: She is the mother of my child.
Victoria froze in her tracks, her jaw dropping open as her face turned completely pale.
Victoria: What... what did you just say?
Marcus: You heard me. The baby she is carrying belongs to the Sterling estate.
Victoria: You said you hadn't seen her in eight months!
Marcus: The divorce was finalized seven months ago, Victoria. Do the math.