Victoria: Good riddance! Now we can get back to our dinner party.
Julian: Shut up, Victoria!
Julian turned on his mother, his hands shaking with violent rage.
Victoria: Don't you use that tone with me, Julian Sterling! I am your mother!
Julian: You ruined my life! You made me believe the woman I loved abandoned me, and you hid my own child from me for nine years!
Victoria: I saved you from a ruinous marriage! A maid would have destroyed your career as CEO!
Board Member: Actually, Victoria, your behavior tonight just destroyed his career.
Julian turned around to face Arthur Vance, the chairman of the corporate board.
Julian: Arthur, please. Don't do this now.
Board Member: The Sterling Group cannot have a CEO who assaults children at official company dinners. The publicity alone will destroy our stock prices by morning.
Victoria: You can't fire my son! His father built this firm!
Board Member: The board holds seventy percent of the voting shares, Victoria. Effective immediately, Julian is suspended without pay pending a full investigation into his conduct.
Julian: Arthur! Listen to me!
Board Member: I suggest you go find your daughter and make things right before the press gets hold of this story. Because if a lawsuit is filed, you will be facing criminal charges.
The board members stood up from the long table, leaving their linen napkins beside their untouched plates. One by one, the wealthy guests walked out of the dining room, leaving Julian and Victoria standing alone under the bright chandeliers.
Victoria: Fools! All of them! We don't need their approval, Julian!
Julian: Get out of my sight.
Victoria: What did you say?
Julian: Pack your bags and get out of my house, Mother. You're no longer welcome on this estate.
Victoria: You're kicking your own mother out for a servant and a brat?!
Julian: That brat is my daughter. And that servant is the only woman who ever truly cared about me.
Victoria gasped, holding her pearl necklace as Julian turned his back on her and sprinted out the front doors into the pouring rain.
He ran down the long, winding driveway, his navy suit soaking through within seconds as he searched the dark road for a woman in a grey maid uniform.
Julian: Emma! Emma, please!
Far down the sidewalk, under the dim light of a street lamp, Emma was carrying a tired, weeping Lily toward the city bus stop.
Julian ran faster, his shoes splashing through muddy puddles until he caught up to them, gasping for air.
Julian: Emma... stop! Please, just listen to me for one minute!
Emma stopped under the glass bus shelter, setting Lily down on the wooden bench before turning to face him with cold, hard eyes.
Emma: What do you want, Julian?
Julian: I fired my mother. I threw her out of the estate.
Emma: Do you want a medal? That doesn't undo what happened tonight.
Julian: I know! I know I was a monster! But please... let me help pay for Lily's medication. Let me be her father.