Richard: "You... you crazy bitch! Did you just hit me?!"
Richard stumbled back half a step, raising a hand to touch the bright red mark blooming across his left cheek. His smirk was completely gone, replaced by shock and raw fury.
Evelyn: "If you ever lay a hand on my daughter again, Richard, a slap will be the least of your problems."
Beatrice: "How dare you! How dare you strike my son in our own ballroom! Security, remove this woman immediately!"
Two tall security guards in black suits stepped forward from the edges of the room, looking uncomfortably at Evelyn.
Evelyn: "Don't you dare come any closer. Touch me or my daughter, and I will have every single one of you arrested for assault on a minor and corporate battery before the night is over."
Security Guard: "Ma'am, please... Mr. Sterling asked us to clear the hall."
Evelyn: "Mr. Sterling doesn't own this floor. And he certainly doesn't own me."
Richard: "I run Sterling Global Logistics now! My brother is dead, Evelyn! You have no standing here, no money, and no rights to this family's estate!"
Beatrice: "He's right. You were only tolerated in this family because of Arthur. Now that my son is gone, you are nobody. You live in our guest house on our charity!"
Evelyn knelt down again, taking a white linen napkin from a nearby table to gently wipe the tears from Lily's face. The little girl was still trembling, clutching her mother's dress tightly.
Lily: "Mommy, can we go home? I want to go to our room..."
Evelyn: "We aren't going anywhere yet, sweetie. Mommy has to finish some business first."
Richard: "Business? You don't have business here! You're a low-class nobody from Oklahoma who got lucky! Security, drag her out!"
Evelyn: "Try it, Richard. Go ahead. Tell them to drag out the majority shareholder of Sterling Global."
A heavy silence fell over the ballroom. Several prominent board members standing nearby stopped sipping their wine, whispering frantically to one another.
Beatrice: "What nonsense are you blabbering about? Majority shareholder? Arthur's shares reverted to the trust upon his passing!"
Evelyn: "Did they? Did you actually read the updated trust agreement Arthur filed three weeks before his plane crash?"
Richard: "That's a lie! Arthur left the entire company control to Mother and me! The lawyers confirmed it!"
Evelyn: "The lawyers you paid off confirmed it, Richard. But Arthur knew what you two were doing behind his back. He knew you were embezzling funds from the Dallas logistics center."
Beatrice: "You insolent brat! How dare you accuse my sons of crime in front of our guests!"
Evelyn: "I'm not accusing, Beatrice. I'm stating facts. And in exactly five minutes, those facts are going to walk through those double doors."
Richard: "She's bluffing! Look at her! She's shaking!"
Evelyn: "I'm not shaking because I'm scared, Richard. I'm shaking because I've waited six months for you to show your true colors in public."
The heavy oak doors at the entrance of the ballroom creaked open, drawing every pair of eyes in the room away from the stage.
Richard: "Who the hell is coming in now?"