Sarah walked back into the living room holding a thick black leather binder stamped with a red state notary seal. She handed the binder directly to Daniel, stepping back beside Martha's chair.
Daniel unclasped the brass lock on the binder and opened the first page under the warm lamplight.
Daniel: What is this, Chloe?
Chloe: It's just a preliminary estate protection draft prepared by my father's legal team!
Daniel: This is a medical evaluation declaring my mother legally incompetent due to advanced dementia!
Chloe: She is incompetent, Daniel! Look at how she wanders around the garden in the middle of the day!
Martha: I walk in the garden because I built those flower beds thirty years ago with your father, Daniel.
Daniel: This evaluation is signed by Dr. Harrison from St. Jude's Private Clinic. Dr. Harrison hasn't examined my mother in over two years!
Sarah: Dr. Harrison received a fifty-thousand-dollar wire transfer from Miss Chloe's personal account last Tuesday, sir.
Chloe: That was a charitable donation to the clinic's research foundation!
Daniel: And what about this second document attached to the back?
Daniel pulled out a cream-colored paper stamped with a gold judicial seal. His face turned dark as his eyes scanned the signatures at the bottom.
Daniel: A master power of attorney transferring my mother's fifty percent voting stock in Vance Logistics directly to your personal shell company!
Chloe: Daniel, listen to reason! The corporate board was threatening a hostile takeover! I did that to protect your family's control!
Daniel: By stealing my mother's shares and placing them in an offshore account registered in the Bahamas?
Chloe froze. Her gold dress seemed to drain all color from her skin as she stared at Daniel in total shock.
Chloe: How... how do you know about the Bahamas account?
Daniel: Did you really think I didn't notice the three-million-dollar liquidity transfer flagged by my bank's fraud department yesterday morning?
Chloe: You... you checked my bank accounts?
Daniel: I didn't check your accounts, Chloe. The federal fraud task force checked them when I reported the suspicious IP address coming from our guest suite Wi-Fi.
Chloe: You reported me to the federal authorities?! Before our wedding day?!
Daniel: There is no wedding day, Chloe. There never was going to be one after what my mother told me on the phone last night.
Chloe's face twisted into an ugly, desperate sneer as she took a step toward Daniel, pointing her long manicured finger at his face.
Chloe: You ungrateful fool! My father's firm is backing your company's new logistics deal! If you break this engagement, my father will pull every single investor out of your business by tomorrow morning!
Martha: Your father's firm was bankrupt six months ago, Chloe. That is why you were so desperate to steal my stock certificates.
Chloe: Shut up, old woman!
Daniel: Do not raise your voice in this house again, Chloe!
The heavy front doors of the mansion echoed through the hallway as footsteps approached the living room archway, accompanied by the distinct sound of radio static.
Sarah: The police officers are here, Mr. Vance.
Daniel: Show them in, Sarah. It's time to end this nightmare once and for all.