Jake: You had two men pin Megan to our bed and bruise her legs to force a signature?!
Evelyn: Lower your voice in this house, Jake! You are talking to your father's widow!
Jake: You are a monster! You attacked a defenseless woman in her own home!
Evelyn: Defenseless?! That girl is a gold-digger who manipulated your father into leaving her a thirty percent share of the family real estate portfolio!
Jake: My father loved Megan like a daughter! He left her those shares because he knew you would try to bleed this estate dry the second he died!
Evelyn: That money belongs to ME! I gave twenty years of my life to your father!
Jake: My father gave you a ten-million-dollar cash payout, a penthouse in Turtle Creek, and three luxury vehicles in his will!
Evelyn: Ten million is pocket change compared to what the Sterling Trust is worth! I built the social status of this family while you were off playing corporate CEO!
Jake: I built the company, Evelyn! My father and I built the entire empire! You just spent the profits on diamonds and European vacations!
Evelyn: That girl had no right to sign those trust documents without my approval!
Jake: She is my wife! She doesn't need your approval for anything!
Evelyn took a step closer to Jake, folding her arms across her beige suit with a cold, cruel smirk.
Evelyn: Go ahead and get angry, Jake. Call the police. Tell the papers. See what happens to your precious wife.
Jake: What are you talking about?
Evelyn: I have six signed affidavit forms from senior clinic directors stating that Megan mismanaged your father's prescription distribution during his final months.
Jake: Those statements are completely fabricated!
Evelyn: Fabricated or not, if I submit them to the Dallas District Attorney, Megan will be arrested for felony medical fraud by tomorrow morning.
Jake: You wouldn't dare.
Evelyn: Try me, stepson. I will ruin her life, drag her name through the dirt, and ensure she spends the next ten years in a state prison.
Jake felt a surge of rage so intense his hands trembled, but he forced himself to stand ground.
Jake: What do you want, Evelyn?
Evelyn: Simple. Have Megan sign over her thirty percent share of the Sterling real estate portfolio to my personal holding company by 5:00 PM today.
Jake: And if she doesn't?
Evelyn: Then I press send on the email to the District Attorney. And those bruises on her legs? I'll tell the police she got them when my security guards had to restrain her after she attacked me in the hallway.
Jake: You are truly evil.
Evelyn: I am a businesswoman, Jake. I secure what is mine. You have until five o'clock. Tell your darling wife to get her pen ready.
Evelyn turned on her high heels and walked toward the back courtyard, leaving Jake standing alone in the silent, sunlit foyer.