Ten minutes later, the front glass doors swung open as an elderly woman dressed in a dark velvet dress and expensive pearl necklace walked into the hall, flanked by two corporate assistants.
Evelyn: Julian! Why are the main security gates locked? The board members from the charity foundation are waiting outside!
Julian: The board members can wait in their luxury cars, Mother. We have more pressing family matters to discuss right here.
Evelyn: What nonsense are you talking about? We have a twenty-million-dollar trust allocation meeting in ten minutes!
Julian: Look at the dining table, Evelyn.
Evelyn turned her head toward the long table, her arrogant expression instantly crumbling into pure horror as she saw Mia sitting in the high-backed velvet chair, holding a golden spoon.
Evelyn: What is... what is that child doing in my mansion?
Julian: That child is my daughter, Mia. Your biological granddaughter.
Evelyn: Are you out of your mind? That girl is the offspring of a low-class servant who tried to scam our family five years ago!
Julian: Do not speak about my daughter or her mother like that in this house ever again!
Evelyn: Julian, listen to me! That woman lied to you! The baby you had with her died at birth in the memorial hospital!
Julian: Really? Then why does this five-year-old child have my exact DNA structure, my eyes, and a birthmark on her left shoulder identical to mine?
Evelyn: It's a coincidence! A cheap coincidence staged by that gold-digger to get her hands on the estate money!
Clara stepped into the room from the side hallway, holding a thick brown folder close to her chest, accompanied by the chief legal officer of Vance Enterprises.
Clara: It wasn't a coincidence, Mrs. Vance. And I have the original hospital intake papers right here.
Evelyn: You! I warned you never to step foot on this property again, you vile little creature!
Julian: Back off, Mother! You don't command anyone in this house anymore!
Evelyn: Julian, she is using you! She hired a crooked lawyer to fabricate those documents five years ago!
Lawyer: Actually, Mrs. Vance, I just ran a full digital check on these records with the hospital administration five minutes ago.
Evelyn: What did you do?
Lawyer: The lead administrator admitted under legal threat that you paid him two hundred thousand dollars from the family charity account to alter the birth records and issue a fake death certificate while Mr. Vance was in London.
Julian: You stole money from a children's charity to pay off a doctor to hide my baby daughter from me?
Evelyn: I did it for the family line! You were supposed to marry Lord Harrington's daughter! You were supposed to unite two multi-billion dollar corporate empires!
Julian: I didn't love Harrington's daughter! I loved Clara!
Evelyn: Clara was a nobody! A girl with no status, no money, and no family background! She would have ruined our standing in high society!
Julian: So you destroyed my happiness, stole my daughter, and forced my child's mother to live in a basement for five years just for your social standing?
Evelyn: Social standing is everything in this city! Without our reputation, the board would have replaced us years ago!
Julian: You are sick, Mother. Completely, hopelessly evil.