Richard: Did you bribe that nurse to take my second daughter away, Evelyn? Answer me!
Evelyn: Richard, listen to me... I did it for us! I did it for our future!
Richard: So you admit it?! You actually stole my baby girl from the hospital crib?!
The crowd of wealthy guests broke into loud, furious chatter, taking out their mobile phones to record the argument[cite: 1]. Evelyn's face turned beet red as she realized her confession had been heard by over two hundred high-society guests[cite: 1].
Evelyn: You were grieving Mary's death! You were weak and depressed! You couldn't handle raising twin babies on your own while running a multi-billion-dollar corporation!
Richard: That was not your decision to make! You monster! You made me believe my second baby died in the incubator!
Lily: For twenty-four years, you let my father mourn a child who was alive and well just forty miles away from this mansion!
Evelyn: You were better off with Sarah! She gave you a normal, quiet life away from the pressure of the public eye!
Lily: A normal life?! I grew up in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, working after school at fourteen to buy food while Sarah's health failed! Meanwhile, you used my mother's inheritance to fund Isabella's birthday parties!
Isabella: Stop talking about me! I didn't know anything about this! Mom, tell him I didn't know!
Evelyn: Of course Isabella didn't know! She is innocent in all of this, Richard!
Lily: Innocent?! Isabella just slapped me across the face five minutes ago simply because a glass clinked on a tray! She treats every working person in this city like garbage because you taught her she was superior to everyone else!
Richard: She slapped you? Is that where that red mark on your cheek came from, Lily?
Lily: Yes, Mr. Vance. She struck me in front of everyone because I accidentally delayed the dessert tray.
Richard turned his glare slowly toward Isabella, his eyes cold with disappointment and anger[cite: 1].
Richard: Is this how you behave when I'm not looking, Isabella? Slapping employees at your own birthday gala?
Isabella: Dad... she was disrespecting me! She was ruining my party!
Richard: A tray of glasses clinking is not disrespect! Assaulting a worker on my marble floor is a crime!
Lily: And that's not the only crime committed in this ballroom tonight.
Lily pulled a second document from her white dress pocket, holding it out toward Richard[cite: 1].
Lily: This is a sworn affidavit signed by Nurse Sarah before she passed away, witnessed by a legal notary. It details every monthly payment Evelyn made to keep me hidden, along with the bank account numbers used for the transfers.