Margaret: My father died thinking he was a failure... he died of a heart attack because he thought he lost everything we owned!
Julian: I know, Margaret. And I can never forgive myself for not seeing what my mother was doing sooner.
Margaret: You let her control your whole life, Julian! You never stood up to her when it mattered!
Julian: I'm standing up to her now! I stripped her of her voting rights on the board, frozen her accounts, and handed all her assets over to the court-appointed trustee!
David: Why give this to Margaret now, Julian? What do you actually want from us?
Julian: I want the Mitchell family estate returned to Margaret. The house, the land, and the twelve million dollars my mother stole from her father's estate.
Margaret: I don't want your mother's dirty money, Julian!
Julian: It's not my mother's money, Margaret. It's yours. It was always yours. Your father built that logistics empire for you, and she stole it out of pure malice.
Lily leaned over from David's shoulder, pointing her small finger at the black velvet box sitting on the small marble table near Julian's side.
Lily: What's in that little box, mystery man?
Julian looked down at the tiny box, a soft, sad smile appearing on his face as he picked it up with shaking hands.
Julian: It's a key, little one. The key to a small wooden house by the lake that your grandfather built a long time ago.
Margaret: My father's lake house...? Victoria took that property in the foreclosures!
Julian: I bought it back from the bank yesterday morning. It's deeded in Lily's name now. No one can ever take it away from her.
Margaret looked at Julian, her anger slowly giving way to a profound, exhausting sadness. The man standing before her wasn't the arrogant, wealthy heir she thought had abandoned her—he was a broken man who had lost four years of his life to his mother's ruthless greed.
Margaret: Julian... why didn't you just call me when you woke up?
Julian: Because I knew you were happy with David. I saw the pictures of your wedding online while I was in the rehabilitation clinic. I saw how much David loved Lily, and I didn't want to drag you back into the nightmare my family created.
David: You should have told us the truth, Julian. We could have helped you take down Victoria together years ago.
Julian: It was my responsibility to fix what my family broke. I didn't want Margaret to carry that weight anymore.
Suddenly, the glass doors behind them burst open again, and three city police detectives walked into the luxury foyer, their heavy boots thudding against the marble.
Detective Vance: Julian Sterling?
Julian: Yes, Detective. I'm right here.
Detective Vance: We need you to come down to the central precinct immediately. Victoria Sterling's legal team is attempting to challenge the evidence you submitted regarding the 2022 vehicular assault case.
Julian: I'm ready to testify under oath. Let's go.