Clara: Sarah was my older sister, Ethan.
Ethan gasped, staggering back half a step as he stared down at the young maid on the floor.
Ethan: Your sister...? Sarah never mentioned having a younger sister in Texas.
Clara: We were separated by child protective services when our parents died in an auto wreck fifteen years ago.
Victoria: She is a fraud! She fabricated a fake adoption record to claim your late wife's inheritance!
Clara: Sarah found me six months before she married you, Ethan. We took a DNA test at Baylor Medical Center.
Ethan: Why didn't Sarah tell me? Why keep it a secret from your own brother-in-law?
Clara: Because Sarah knew the Vance family was already threatening your board of directors. She wanted me to live a peaceful life away from corporate vultures.
Victoria: This is a coordinated conspiracy! Jackson, arrest this maid for trespassing!
Jackson: I take orders from Mr. Sterling, Miss Vance. Not from a sociopath in a ballgown.
Clara: Three weeks before Sarah passed away, she called me in tears. She told me her morning tea tasted like bitter almonds every time Victoria visited.
Ethan's face turned completely white, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper.
Ethan: Victoria... did you visit my wife's private suite while I was in London?
Victoria: I brought her herbal tea to help her sleep! I was being a supportive family friend!
Clara: You brought her concentrated liquid digitalis extracted from foxglove plants in the greenhouse!
Victoria: You have no proof of that! The coroner signed a natural cardiac arrest certificate!
Clara: The county coroner received a four-hundred-thousand-dollar wire transfer from your offshore shell account in Grand Cayman two days after the funeral, Victoria.
Victoria's hands began to shake violently against the marble banister[cite: 1].
Victoria: How did you get those Cayman bank statements?! Those records are encrypted!
Clara: Detective Vance from the Dallas Major Crimes Division subpoenaed them yesterday morning.
Distant sirens began to wail down the long tree-lined driveway outside the mansion gates[cite: 1].
Red and blue flashing lights danced across the high arched windows, casting eerie patterns over the white walls and the American flag[cite: 1].
Victoria: Police?! Ethan, you actually called the authorities on your own bride-to-be?![cite: 1]
Ethan: I didn't call them, Victoria. Jackson's automated security console dispatched them the moment Toby hit this floor[cite: 1].
The heavy front doors swung open once more, and four armed Dallas police officers entered the foyer, led by Detective Vance.
Detective Vance: Dallas Police! Nobody move! Ethan, is your boy breathing?
Ethan: Toby is alive thanks to Clara, Detective. The suspect is standing on the third step.
Detective Vance pulled a crisp white warrant from his inner jacket pocket, unfolding it under the chandelier lights.
Detective Vance: Victoria Vance, you are under arrest for the capital murder of Sarah Sterling, felony attempted murder of an infant, and grand corporate fraud.
Victoria: Vance, wait! You know my father! My father donates millions to the police benevolent fund!
Detective Vance: Your father was arrested at his high-rise office thirty minutes ago, Victoria. He is currently being booked for money laundering and murder conspiracy.
Victoria let out a loud, choked shriek of pure horror as her knees buckled on the stairs[cite: 1].