Richard's gaze fixed on Rosa with a cold, menacing intensity that left absolutely no doubt about what he'd been planning, his earlier furious concern revealed now for the calculated performance it had always been. "Step aside," he said quietly, his voice carrying a quiet threat beneath its deceptively calm surface. Rosa didn't move. She stood firmly between him and Emily, her expression unwavering despite the obvious danger radiating from the man in front of her. "No," she said simply, her voice steady despite the fear she could feel tightening in her chest. Emily, still seated on the floor behind Rosa, finally began to understand the full weight of what was happening, her eyes widening in horrified realization as she caught sight of the blade still gripped in her husband's hand. "Richard," she whispered, her voice breaking, "what is happening?" Richard said nothing, his attention entirely fixed on Rosa now, calculating, assessing whether she truly intended to stand between him and whatever he'd originally planned to finish. Rosa held his gaze without flinching, every muscle in her body tensed and ready, refusing to give even an inch of ground despite the very real danger the moment carried. "You'll have to get through me first," she said finally, her voice carrying a fierce, unwavering resolve that seemed to genuinely surprise him. Around them, the remaining staff had finally begun to grasp the seriousness of the situation, several already reaching for phones, others moving cautiously to help shield Emily further. Whatever Richard had intended for that morning, whatever secret plan had begun with a severed chandelier chain, it had just run headlong into a maid who refused to let it succeed — and the standoff unfolding in that shattered, glass-strewn foyer was far from finished.