Clara pressed the wet blanket against her baby's shivering body, wrapping her arms around him to give him her own body heat.
Clara: Hush now, baby, mommy's got you. You're safe now.
Evelyn: Safe? In this home? You don't belong here, Clara, and neither does that mistake in your arms.
Clara: He is your son's child! He is a Vance!
Evelyn: My son Julian was an heir to billions. He would never have lowered himself to have an heir with a nobody like you.
Clara: Julian loved me! We were married in secret, and you know it!
Evelyn: A secret marriage is no marriage at all in the eyes of the board, or in the eyes of the law.
Clara: You hid his will! You tried to erase us the second his plane went down!
Evelyn: I preserved this family's dignity from a gold-digger.
Clara took two rapid steps forward, her posture rigid with an overpowering surge of maternal rage.
Clara: Don't you ever call me that!
With a furious motion, Clara shoved Evelyn back with her free hand, slamming her palm directly against the older woman's silk-clad shoulder.
Evelyn lost her balance completely, her polished slippers slipping across the smooth floor.
With a heavy thud, the matriarch fell hard onto the pristine white marble floor, her silk pajamas crumpling around her.
Evelyn: How dare you! You laid hands on me in my own mansion!
Clara: This isn't your mansion anymore, Evelyn!
Evelyn: You're insane! Security will have you thrown onto the street in handcuffs before sunrise!
Clara: Call them. Go ahead, call every lawyer and guard you have on payroll!
Clara stood over the sprawling woman, her wet robe dripping onto the floor beside the fallen matriarch.
She pulled a folded, official document from the envelope she was holding and tossed it directly onto Evelyn's lap.
Evelyn: What is this nonsense?
Clara: Read it. Read every single word out loud!
Evelyn: I don't take orders from garbage like you.
Clara: Then look at whose name is signed on this paper!
Evelyn sneered, but her fingers trembled slightly as she picked up the crisp white sheet of paper.
The top of the page featured a heavy gold seal and bold capital letters that made her breath catch in her throat.
It read: THE BERKSHIRE TRUST.
Evelyn: The Berkshire Trust? This... this is the family foundation. How did you get this?
Clara: Julian didn't trust you with his life insurance, and he certainly didn't trust you with the estate.
Evelyn: Julian loved me! I was his mother!
Clara: You were his warden! And he made sure his true family was protected before he took that flight.
Evelyn's eyes scanned down the page, paper rustling loudly in her stiff fingers.
Her face froze in sheer horror and disbelief as the full context of the words hit her.
Evelyn: No... no, this is a forgery. It has to be!
Clara: It's notarized by the top estate lawyer in New York. Try calling him and see if he lies for you.
Evelyn: This says... this says the entire estate... the mansion, the shares, the bank accounts...
Clara: Everything goes directly to Julian's primary heir upon his death.
Evelyn: But I am his primary beneficiary!
Clara: Read the clause at the bottom, Evelyn. Read who the actual owner of the Berkshire Trust is.
Evelyn's eyes widened further in panic, her jaw dropping as realization set in like a crushing weight.
A high-pitched gasp escaped her throat as a tense, heavy silence filled the vast grand foyer.
Evelyn: It... it names the child. It names the child as the sole trustee upon birth.
Clara: That's right. The baby you just tried to drown owns every single marble tile you're sitting on.