On the day of Ava's 18th birthday gala, Melissa confronts Victoria about her daughter Evie's injury. Victoria defends herself by stating Evie was punished for ruining Ava's dress and is now relegated to carrying Ava's train. When Ava suffers a minor cut while cleaning up a broken cosmetic item, Victoria and her associate Jason react with disproportionate alarm over Ava's 'valuable' piano hands, while dismissing Evie's bandaged injuries. Melissa points out the blatant favoritism, noting that anyone would think Ava was Victoria's real daughter, exposing a disturbing imbalance in their treatment.