Evelyn: You can't divorce me, Richard! We signed a prenuptial agreement, but I am still entitled to the estate allowances while we are married!
Richard: You think I care about the prenup right now? You abused my child!
Lily: Dad... it wasn't just the cleaning. Look at what she made me sign yesterday.
Lily reached into her maid apron pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, handing it over to her father with a trembling hand.
Richard: What is this?
Lily: She told me if I didn't sign it, she would tell you I was stealing money from the family business account.
Richard unfolded the paper, scanning the printed legal text quickly. As his eyes read the words, his face turned from crimson red to a pale, terrifying ghostly white.
Richard: A waiver of inheritance rights? You tried to force my daughter to surrender her trust fund?
Evelyn: That... that was just a draft! My estate lawyer prepared that to protect our joint assets!
Richard: You brought a legal document to a terrified teenager and forced her to sign away her biological rights while I was out of state?
Evelyn: She’s eighteen! She’s legally an adult! She knew what she was signing!
Richard: She signed this under duress, you sick, greedy woman!
Richard ripped the paper into tiny pieces, letting them scatter across the wet marble floor at Evelyn’s feet like snow.
Richard: My flight landed two hours ago because the New York hedge fund meeting wrapped up early. If I hadn't come straight home from the airport, what else were you planning to do to her?
Evelyn: I was trying to secure our family's financial future! Your daughter is weak, Richard! She spends all her time painting and reading while you work eighty hours a week!
Richard: She is going to college for fine arts! I built my real estate firm so she would have the freedom to pursue her dreams!
Evelyn: And what about my dreams? I spent three years playing the loving stepmother while you treated me like an accessory!
Richard: You live in a ten-million-dollar mansion in Dallas, driving a custom Italian sports car, and you dare talk about being treated like an accessory?
Lily: She threatened to call the police on me last night, Dad. She said if I tried to leave the property, she’d tell them I assaulted her.
Richard: She said what?
Lily: She pointed at the security cameras and said no one would believe a teenager over the lady of the house.
Richard pulled his cell phone out from his inner suit pocket with terrifying calmness. He dialed a direct line, placing the phone on speaker mode as it began to ring.
Lawyer: Richard? I thought you were in Manhattan until Friday.
Richard: Arthur, I need you at my Dallas estate immediately. Bring two junior partners and contact the District Attorney’s office.
Lawyer: What’s going on? Is it the corporate merger?
Richard: No. I am filing for an emergency restraining order, an immediate divorce petition, and filing criminal charges against Evelyn for extortion and unlawful restraint.
Evelyn: Richard, stop! Hang up that phone right now!
Lawyer: Understood, Richard. I’m pulling the files right now. I’ll have police escort units dispatched to your residence within fifteen minutes.
Richard: Make it ten, Arthur. And freeze all joint accounts effective immediately.
The call ended with a sharp beep. Evelyn stood frozen in the hallway, her jaw open in utter disbelief as the reality of her situation finally settled in.