Arthur Vance took three fast strides toward Marcus, his face flushed red under his white hair as he gestured wildly toward the ballroom doors.
Arthur: Marcus, you are making a catastrophic mistake! The bank auditors are sitting in the third row right now!
Marcus: I don't care if the President of the United States is sitting in the third row, Arthur!
Arthur: If you cancel this wedding, the Vance Logistics merger is canceled! Your corporate stock will lose forty percent of its value by four o'clock today!
Marcus: My daughter was stolen from her mother's arms four years ago so you could steal my grandfather's trust fund!
Evelyn: We didn't steal anything! We gave that child a penthouse suite, elite private tutors, and designer clothes!
Lily: The mean lady locked me in the dark closet when I asked for my real mommy!
The entire crowd of high-society guests gasped in shock. Several women in the second row covered their mouths, looking at Evelyn with complete disgust.
Guest A: Did that little girl just say she was locked in a closet?!
Guest B: Horrific! Absolutely horrific! They stole a baby from her mother!
Marcus: You locked my four-year-old daughter in a closet, Evelyn?!
Evelyn: She was crying about her mother during my bridal dress fitting, Marcus! She was ruining my peace of mind!
Marcus stood up from the marble floor, his tuxedo jacket rumpled, his fists clenching so tight his knuckles turned bone white under the bright lights.
Marcus: Lawyer Vance! Step forward right now!
Marcus’s chief estate attorney, Harrison Vance, stepped out from the front row of guests, holding a sleek black leather briefcase.
Harrison: I am here, Mr. Sterling.
Marcus: Harrison, pull up the digital vault files for the Sterling Master Trust on your tablet immediately.
Arthur: Harrison, do not open those files! You work for Vance Logistics as primary legal proxy!
Harrison: I work for the Sterling Estate, Arthur. And my primary duty is to the biological heir named in the grandfather's original 1995 trust deed.
Harrison opened his briefcase, tapping the screen of his tablet computer before holding it up for the entire front row to see.
Harrison: Mr. Sterling, I am looking at the unedited digital birth registry from St. Jude's Hospital dated June 12th, 2022.
Marcus: Read the primary beneficiary line aloud, Harrison.
Harrison: Primary biological beneficiary: Lily Sterling. Sole legal guardian in the event of incapacitation or separation: Clara Vance.
Evelyn let out a sharp, hysterical scream, lunging toward Harrison to grab the tablet from his hands.
Evelyn: Delete that file! Delete it right now!
Marcus: Get your hands off my lawyer, Evelyn!
Marcus stepped between Evelyn and the attorney, grabbing Evelyn’s wrist in mid-air and holding her back with crushing strength.
Marcus: You tried to murder Clara with a heavy wooden stick today because you knew the moment she walked into this room, your forty-million-dollar scam was over!