Jax helped Sarah stand up, steadying her trembling frame as he guided her slowly into the living room. Marcus was frantically trying to stuff legal papers into a dark leather briefcase, his hands shaking violently as he worked.
Marcus: Sarah, don't listen to these criminals! They don't understand how probate law works!
Sarah: You hit my daughter, Marcus! You hit a seven-year-old child!
Marcus: She was interfering with official paperwork! She grabbed my arm while I was trying to get your signature!
Jax: You put hands on a little girl over a piece of paper?
Marcus: It's a legal contract! Tom owed over two hundred thousand dollars in business debts before he died!
Sarah: That's a lie! Tom paid off every single loan before his accident! He showed me the bank receipts!
Jax: Hand over that briefcase, Marcus.
Marcus: Absolutely not! This contains confidential financial records and private family trust documents!
Jax stepped forward without another word, wrenching the leather briefcase right out of Marcus's hands. He unsnapped the brass latches with two loud clicks and dumped the entire stack of contents directly onto the wooden coffee table.
Marcus: That is illegal search and seizure! I'll have your entire motorcycle club shut down by the state!
Hawk: You're talking a lot for a guy who just locked a woman in a broom closet, counsellor.
Jax flipped through the thick stack of papers, his dark eyes narrowing as he scanned the signatures at the bottom of the official pages.
Jax: Look at this, Sarah. This is a quitclaim deed for the entire ranch, transferring ownership to Marcus's corporate entity.
Sarah: I never signed that! I've never seen that document in my life!
Jax: The signature is forged. Look at the cursive loop on the 'S'. Tom used to write his signature just like that, but Sarah doesn't.
Sarah: That's my late husband's handwriting style, not mine!
Jax: He forged your signature to make it look like you transferred the deed before Tom passed away.
Marcus: That's an accusation without any legal backing! You're not a document examiner!
Jax: What about this one? An application for the liquidation of Tom's five hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy.
Sarah: Five hundred thousand? Tom told me the policy was only for fifty thousand!
Jax: Marcus altered the insurance declaration pages, Sarah. He took the extra four hundred and fifty thousand and deposited it into an offshore account.
Marcus: You don't know what you're reading! That was for the business liquidation expenses!
Jax: You stole a dead man's life insurance from his widow and bruised his daughter when she caught you red-handed.
Marcus: I am the rightful executor of the estate! Tom appointed me in his original will ten years ago!
Sarah: Tom made a new will three years ago after Lily was born! He gave the master copy to his lawyer in town!
Marcus: That lawyer retired last month! That master copy is gone!
Jax: It's not gone, Marcus. Because Tom gave a notarized duplicate copy to me for safekeeping in our clubhouse vault.
Marcus's face drained of all color, his lower lip trembling as he slowly backed toward the open front door. The cool afternoon breeze blew through the room, shuffling the forged documents across the table.
Marcus: He... he couldn't have given you a copy. You're just a motorcycle gang!
Jax: We're not a gang, Marcus. We're Tom's brothers. And we protect our own.
Hawk: Jax, listen. Siren sounds down the road.
Jax: Good. Right on time.