Julian sat frozen on the sofa, his jaw hanging open as his fingers reached up to touch his burning face.
Julian: You hit me. You actually laid your hands on me in my own home!
Karen: I'll do a lot worse than that if you don't stay away from my daughter.
Beatrice: Call security, Julian! Have this violent woman arrested right now!
Beatrice scrambled up from the floor, smoothing down her ruined silk blouse with shaking hands.
Julian: Get the guards, Beatrice! Tell them to drag her down to the gate!
Karen: Go ahead. Call them. Let's see if your guards want to take the fall for child abuse.
Karen turned back to Lily, scooping the little girl into her arms and holding her close against her chest.
Lily: Mom, she bruised my arm. She pinched me because I wouldn't call her mother.
Karen: I know, sweetheart. I saw it. Daddy and his new wife are going to pay for every single mark on your body.
Julian: She's exaggerating! She fell on the playground this morning!
Karen: Shut your mouth, Julian! You sat right there on that couch and watched her get hurt!
Julian: I am her biological father! I have full legal authority over this household!
Karen: Not anymore you don't.
Karen reached inside her dark wool coat and pulled out a folded packet of legal papers bound with a blue official seal.
She tossed the heavy document straight onto Julian's lap, where it landed over his spilled bourbon.
Julian: What is this garbage?
Karen: That is an emergency injunction issued by Judge Miller at four o'clock today.
Julian: Judge Miller? My family donated fifty thousand dollars to his reelection campaign!
Karen: Then I guess your fifty thousand dollars wasn't enough to cover up the video footage I sent his office two hours ago.
Julian's face went completely pale, the red handprints on his cheeks standing out even more vividly against his sudden ghost-like skin.
Julian: What video footage?
Karen: The nanny camera hidden inside Lily's teddy bear, Julian.
Beatrice let out a sharp gasp, her hand flying over her mouth as she backed toward the hallway archway.
Beatrice: A camera? In the doll?
Karen: In the bear I gave her three days ago when you dragged her out of my apartment.
Julian: You recorded us inside my private residence? That's illegal wiretapping!
Karen: Not when it records evidence of active child endangerment and felony domestic assault, you idiot.
Julian: We didn't assault anyone! We were imposing discipline!
Karen: The judge called it torture, Julian. And he suspended your parental rights effective fifteen minutes ago.
Lily buried her face deeper into Karen's neck, her small shoulders still hiccuping with quiet sobs.
Lily: Can we go home now, Mommy? I want to go to my bedroom.
Karen: We're leaving right now, my love. Nobody in this house is ever going to touch you again.