Rachel: Stay right where you are. Don't move a single inch.
Evelyn: Rachel, put that phone down right now! How dare you lay your hands on me in my own home!
Rachel: You hit my daughter with a solid oak chair, Evelyn! Do you realize what you just did?!
Evelyn: She knocked over my mother’s handed-down porcelain vase! That vase was worth ten thousand dollars!
Rachel: I don't care if it was worth ten million dollars! You don't strike a seven-year-old child!
Richard: Lower your voice, Rachel! The neighbors are going to hear you screaming like a lunatic!
Rachel looked down at Lily, who was sobbing uncontrollably on the carpet, holding her bruised left shoulder.
Rachel: Lily, sweetie, let me look at your shoulder. Does it hurt bad?
Lily: It hurts really bad, Mommy... Grandma shoved me and then hit me with the chair leg...
Rachel: Oh my God... look at this red mark! It’s already turning purple!
Rachel turned back to Evelyn, her eyes flashing with pure fury as she held up her phone.
Evelyn: She tripped over her own feet! I was just moving the chair out of the way!
Rachel: Stop lying! I saw you lowering the chair right as I walked through the door!
Richard: Rachel, listen to reason for one minute! We are your family! You cannot call the authorities over a household accident!
Rachel: This was no accident, Richard. This is felony child abuse.
Richard stepped forward, his fists clenched at his sides as he tried to intimidate Rachel with his tall frame.
Richard: If you call the police, you will ruin Mark’s career! Do you want your husband to lose his position at the firm?
Rachel: Mark’s career? Are you seriously threatening my husband’s job right now?
Richard: I fund his partnership! I own sixty percent of the shares in that firm! One phone call from me and Mark is ruined!
Evelyn: Exactly! You have no money of your own, Rachel! You live in our house, off our family trust fund!
Rachel let out a cold, bitter laugh, taking a step back to keep her body between them and her crying daughter.
Rachel: You think money gives you the right to beat my daughter?
Evelyn: We gave you a roof over your head! We paid for Lily’s private school tuition!
Rachel: And you used that money to keep us quiet while you treated us like servants!
Lily reached out, her small fingers wrapping around the hem of Rachel’s jeans.
Lily: Mommy, please... can we go home? I want Daddy...
Rachel: Daddy is on his way right now, sweetie. I texted him the second I got into the driveway.
Evelyn’s eyes widened with sudden panic as she rubbed her swollen, red cheek.
Evelyn: You texted Mark?! What did you tell him?!
Rachel: I told him to get here immediately because his mother just attacked his daughter with a chair.
Richard: You manipulative little snake! Mark will take our side! He knows who pays his salary!
Rachel: We will see about that, Richard. Because the 911 dispatcher is on the line right now.
Rachel brought the phone to her ear, her voice steady and clear as she spoke to the emergency operator.
Rachel: Yes, operator? I need an ambulance and police officers at 412 Crestview Drive immediately. My child has been assaulted.