The high-ceilinged foyer was quiet, but voices carried down from the upper floor library. Toby led Lily up the wide marble staircase, his footsteps firm on the polished stone. When he reached the library doors, he pushed them wide open. Inside, Evelyn was leaning over a wooden desk, holding a heavy pen out toward a pale, frail Richard sitting in a wheelchair. Julian stood behind her, wearing an expensive suit purchased with Richard's money. A thick stack of legal papers lay open on the desk, waiting for a final signature that would strip Toby and Lily of their birthright forever.
Evelyn: What are you doing in my house?
Toby: This is not your house, Evelyn. It never was.
Julian: Get them out of here before I call security!
Toby: Try it, Julian. See what happens when the police arrive.
Richard looked up slowly, his eyes cloudy with age and illness. When he recognized Toby and Lily, tears filled his tired eyes. He reached out a trembling hand toward his children, looking like a man trapped in a prison of his own making. Evelyn stepped between them quickly, blocking Richard from view. She held the legal contract tight against her chest, her face twisting into a furious scowl. She had worked for over a decade to isolate Richard from his kids, and she was not about to let Toby ruin her final victory now.
Richard: Toby... my son... you came back.
Toby: I came to finish what started ten years ago, Dad.
Evelyn: He signed everything over to Julian yesterday! You get nothing!
Toby: He couldn't sign anything without his original trust lawyer present.
Toby walked straight past Evelyn toward the wall behind the desk. Hung on the mahogany paneling was the large framed American flag artwork that had been there since his childhood. Toby reached up and pulled the heavy frame off the wall, setting it gently on the floor. Behind it sat a small wall safe with a digital keypad. Toby remembered the code his mother had taught him before she passed away—the date of his and Lily's births combined. He punched in the numbers quickly, and the heavy metal door clicked open with a sharp snap.