Evelyn: You're bluffing. The lawyers signed the probate papers two weeks ago. I am the sole trustee of the Vance estate!
Lucas: You signed forged probate papers, Mother. My legal team filed a fraud injunction with the state court at eight o'clock this morning.
Clara: Lucas... my stomach... it hurts...
Lucas: Maria, where is that ambulance?! Tell them we have a pregnant woman who fell from a second-story balcony!
Maria: *Speaking urgently into the phone* Yes, operator! 1400 Crestview Drive! Send an ambulance right now! A pregnant woman was pushed!
Evelyn: *Screaming from above* Cancel that call, Maria! Do not mention a push!
Lucas: Keep talking, Maria. Give them every detail.
Evelyn rushed down the grand curved staircase, her gray suit jacket flapping as her heels clicked angrily against the marble steps. She reached the lower atrium, her eyes burning with hatred as she pointed a manicured finger at Clara.
Evelyn: Get off my floor, you little leech! You think because you're pregnant with some bastard child you can take my home?!
Lucas: Touch her again and I will throw you out these front doors myself, Evelyn.
Evelyn: I am your mother!
Lucas: You stopped being my mother when you decided money was worth more than human life!
Clara: Evelyn... I came here today to give you a chance... I was going to offer you a monthly stipend from the trust...
Evelyn: A stipend?! You think I'm going to take hand-outs from Thomas's bastard child?!
Lucas: She isn't a bastard, Evelyn. Dad married her mother in secret in Nevada six months before he met you.
Evelyn froze dead in her tracks, her hand hovering in the air as her eyes widened in pure horror.
Evelyn: What... what did you say?
Lucas: You heard me. Your marriage to Thomas Vance was legally void from day one. You were never his legal wife.
Evelyn: That's impossible! We had a ceremony in New York! We had five hundred guests!
Lucas: A big party doesn't mean anything without a valid marriage license, Mother. Dad never dissolved his first marriage in Nevada.
Clara: My mother kept the original license in her safe deposit box... I brought the certified copy with me today...
Clara pointed weakly to her leather handbag lying on the floor near the base of the stairs, where it had fallen during the struggle on the upper balcony.
Lucas: Go pick up that bag, Maria.
Maria: Yes, Mr. Lucas!
Evelyn: Don't you touch that bag, Maria! That is private property!
Lucas: Pick it up, Maria. Hand it directly to me.
Maria darted forward, grabbing the leather purse from the floor and handing it straight to Lucas while keeping her distance from Evelyn.
Lucas: In this bag is the legal proof that Clara's mother was Thomas's only lawful wife. Which means Clara is his only legitimate child under Texas state law.
Evelyn: And what about you, Lucas?! If my marriage was invalid, then what does that make you?! You're stripping away your own inheritance!
Lucas: I don't care about the money, Evelyn. I built my own software company. I don't need Dad's millions. But Clara was forced to work two jobs while living in a cramped apartment while you spent millions on diamonds and private jets!
Clara: Lucas... I hear sirens outside...
The distant wail of police sirens and emergency vehicles echoed through the high windows of the mansion, growing louder by the second as they turned onto the long estate driveway.
Evelyn: *Panicking* Lucas... tell the police it was an accident! Please, son! You can't let them arrest your own mother!
Lucas: You tried to kill my sister and her unborn baby, Evelyn. You belong in a cell.