Mark walked over to his large wooden desk near the edge of the hallway.
He set his phone down firmly on the polished wood next to his briefcase.
He looked at Victoria with a cold expression that she had never seen before.
Mark: How much debt are you actually carrying right now, Victoria?
Victoria: It is just a small business loan that went bad last month.
Mark: Do not lie to me again because I will find out tomorrow.
Elena: Sir, there are thick yellow envelopes that arrived in the mail yesterday.
Elena: She asked me to hide them in the bottom library cabinet.
Victoria snapped her head toward Elena with a glare full of pure venom.
Victoria: You quiet little snake! You had no right to look at my mail!
Elena: You told me to hide them, but I never opened any of them.
Mark: Bring those envelopes to me right now, Elena.
Elena walked quickly into the adjacent library and opened the lower wooden door.
She pulled out three thick yellow envelopes stamped with urgent red collection notices.
She brought them back into the main hall and handed them directly to Mark.
Mark tore the top envelope open and scanned the legal papers inside with fast eyes.
His face grew darker as he read the huge numbers printed on the paper.
Victoria had taken out high-interest personal loans using the house as fake collateral.
She had forged his signature on legal mortgage documents over three months ago.
She owed over two million dollars to dangerous private financial lenders across town.
If the debt was not paid immediately, the bank would foreclose on the whole mansion.
Her desperate plan was to destroy valuable trust assets and claim insurance money to pay them.
She was ready to let an innocent maid go to prison for grand theft just to save herself.
Mark let out a heavy sigh and leaned his hand against the sturdy oak desk.
Mark: You forged my official signature on a bank mortgage application?
Victoria: I was going to pay it back before you ever noticed!
Mark: This is bank fraud and grand larceny under state law!
Victoria: Please, Mark, we can fix this together without involving lawyers!
Mark: There is no 'we' anymore after what you tried to do today.
Elena stood quietly near the entrance, feeling relieved that the truth was finally out.
She had worked hard her whole life to maintain her clean reputation and honest work ethics.
She knew that standing up for the truth was always the right choice to make.
Victoria sank down onto the bottom stair step, sobbing deeply into her silk sleeves.
Her luxury lifestyle, her expensive dresses, and her status were fading away quickly.
Mark picked up his phone again and dialed his estate family lawyer immediately.
The phone rang twice before his trusted legal attorney answered on the line.