Victoria looked up at the balcony, her eyes narrowing as Catherine held onto the polished railing for support. Thomas stood right behind her, holding a thick leather folder.
Victoria: Get back upstairs, girl! You have no standing in this house!
Catherine: You threatened to put my sick mother in a state asylum if I didn't sign those papers! You told me Samuel signed a restraining order against me!
Victoria: You have no proof of anything! It's your word against the Vance family legal team!
Samuel: Actually, Mother, she doesn't need to prove it. You proved it yourself.
Victoria: What are you talking about?
Samuel: I had Thomas access the private security server from the Vermont estate ten minutes ago. The automated facility logs show monthly wire transfers from your personal private account to the clinic director.
Victoria: That... that was for medical research donations!
Samuel: Two hundred thousand dollars a year to keep a young mother locked in an unlisted residential wing?! Is that what you call research?!
Victoria: Samuel, listen to me! Everything I did, I did to preserve the legacy your father built! A boy of your status could not marry a nobody!
Samuel: My father built a reputable company, Mother. You built a house of lies and human cruelty!
Victoria: I am the head of this family trust! You cannot speak to me like this in my own home!
Samuel: This isn't your home anymore. Father left fifty-one percent of the real estate title directly to me upon his passing. The deed is in my name alone.
Victoria’s breath hitched. She looked around the cavernous foyer, realizing for the first time that her absolute control over the estate was crumbling around her.
Victoria: You wouldn't throw your own mother out on the street...
Samuel: You let the mother of my child sleep on dirt floors for three years. You're lucky I'm letting you pack your clothes.
Victoria: I'll fight you in court! I'll hire the best litigation attorneys in the country!
Samuel: With what money? As of five minutes ago, I executed an emergency freeze on all joint accounts associated with the Vance foundation pending a full criminal audit.
Victoria: You fool! You're going to ruin our stock value!
Samuel: I don't care about the stock value! I care about justice!
Catherine walked down the balcony staircase slowly, her eyes fixed on the woman who had stolen her youth and her happiness. She reached the bottom step, standing next to Samuel as he wrapped his arm protectively around her waist.
Catherine: You thought I was weak because I had no money, Victoria. But a mother will survive anything to bring her child home to her father.