Clara raised her slender hands to the silk ribbons behind her head.
She slowly unknotted the fabric with steady, calm movements.
The white masquerade mask fell away from her pale face.
Her sharp green eyes stared directly into David's trembling gaze.
Deep scars lined her right jawline under the bright sunlight.
David gasped aloud and took two steps backward onto the grass.
David: What happened to your face, Clara?
Clara: The car crash twenty years ago almost took my life.
Leo: What car crash are you two talking about?
Clara: Ask your wealthy father who cut the brake lines, Leo.
David shook his head violently side to side in denial.
David: I never touched your car that night, Clara!
Clara: You were the only person who knew my driving route home.
Leo looked between his father and the scarred woman.
The young man's face showed deep confusion and growing fear.
He had spent his whole life respecting his father's integrity.
Now everything he believed was falling apart on the front lawn.
Leo: Dad, tell her she is lying right now.
David: I never tried to harm anyone in my life, son!
Clara: Then why did you transfer my brother's shares to yourself?
Clara pulled a second legal document from her red satin purse.
She held it up so Leo could read the bold red numbers.
It showed a bank transfer of five million dollars from 2004.
The money had moved directly into David's personal corporate account.
The transfer date was the exact day after Marcus Vance disappeared.
Leo looked down at the paper with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Leo: Dad... is this official bank document real?
David: Marcus signed those shares over to me voluntarily, Leo!
Clara: He was in a hospital bed when that signature was made.
Evelyn stepped out from the grand mansion doorway into the sun.
Her heels clicked loudly against the white marble floor.
Evelyn: David, who is this strange woman yelling at you?
David: Go back inside the house right now, Evelyn!
Clara: Hello Evelyn, do you remember my face from college?
Evelyn stopped dead in her tracks near the top porch step.
Her hands began to shake as she recognized Clara's green eyes.
Evelyn: Clara Vance... we thought you were dead in Europe.
Clara: I was hiding in a rehabilitation clinic for ten years.
Clara: It took me another ten years to gather this legal evidence.
David clutched the yellow envelope tightly against his chest.
He felt the eyes of his entire family weighing down on him.
The bright daylight exposed every line of worry on his face.
He could no longer pretend the past did not exist.
David: I did what I had to do to save the business, Clara.
Clara: You stole our family legacy to build this ridiculous mansion.