Margarethe: Julian! Speak to them! Tell them this was all a misunderstanding! I loved you, Julian!
Julian: You loved my bank account, Margarethe. You loved the black credit cards, the mansion, and the social status. You never cared about me, and you certainly never cared about my son.
Leo: Goodbye, fake mom! Don't forget your plastic belly on the way out!
Margarethe: You ungrateful little monster! I should have sent you away to board school the day I moved in here!
Julian: That comment was recorded on the officer's body camera as well. Add it to the record, officer.
Officer Ramirez: We have everything we need. Mr. Vance, your legal team will need to present the original financial transfer records at the county courthouse at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.
Julian: My attorneys will be waiting on the courthouse steps at eight-thirty with the full audit folder.
The officers led the crying, screaming woman down the front steps of the mansion. Her high heels scraped against the stone entry as she was shoved into the back of the black-and-white police cruiser. The heavy door slammed shut, silencing her frantic screams once and for all.
Eleanor let out a long, exhausted breath, sitting down on the plush velvet bench near the hallway entrance. She looked over at her son, who was standing quietly near the American flag, looking at the empty doorway.
Eleanor: I can't believe we let that terrible woman live under our roof for almost a whole year... How could I have been so blind to her games?
Julian: She was a professional liar, Mom. She calculated every move from the moment she met me at that fundraiser. But it's over now.
Leo: Is she ever coming back here, Dad?
Julian: No, Leo. She is never setting foot on this property again. The divorce papers are being finalized tonight, and with the fraud charges, she won't get a single penny from the estate.
Leo: Good. Because she was really terrible at playing hide-and-seek anyway.
Julian let out a quiet laugh, the tension finally leaving his shoulders as he reached down and pulled his young son into a tight hug. The heavy dark cloud that had hung over the Vance estate for six months had finally cleared out completely.