Officer Miller immediately unclipped the steel handcuffs from Nadia's wrists, his face tight with embarrassment[cite: 1].
Officer Miller: My deepest apologies, ma'am. You're a hero, not a suspect[cite: 1].
Nadia: Just get her away from these children, Officer[cite: 1].
Nadia rubbed her chafed wrists, immediately reaching out to take little Toby from Caleb's arms[cite: 1].
The baby stopped crying the moment he felt his aunt's familiar touch, snuggling into her damp uniform[cite: 1].
Caleb: Nadia... Forgive me. I was blind. I was a complete, arrogant fool[cite: 1].
Nadia: We'll talk about your blindness later, Caleb. Right now, ask your fiancee about what she has in the safe[cite: 1].
Victoria pushed herself up to her elbows, spitting blood from her split lip onto the pristine tiles[cite: 1].
Victoria: Don't you dare touch my personal belongings! That safe is legally protected under our prenuptial agreement[cite: 1]!
Leo: Dad, she had a metal lighter in the study before she went to the pool! She was trying to burn Mommy's papers[cite: 1]!
Caleb: What papers, Leo[cite: 1]?
Leo: The blue folder with Mommy's signature! The one from the probate court[cite: 1]!
Caleb’s jaw locked tight as he grabbed Victoria by her beige linen sleeve, hauling her up from the ground[cite: 1].
Caleb: Into the study. Now[cite: 1].
Officer Miller and Officer Davis walked right beside them, escorting Victoria through the grand French doors into the air-conditioned mansion[cite: 1].
The private study smelled of polished mahogany, leather-bound books, and a faint trace of lighter fluid[cite: 1].
Inside the brass fireplace sat a charred metal trash bin, half-filled with singed legal documents[cite: 1].
On the massive mahogany desk sat an open floor safe, its digital keypad flashing red[cite: 1].
Caleb: Officer Davis, secure that fireplace immediately! Do not let those ashes scatter[cite: 1]!
Officer Davis pulled out a heavy plastic evidence bag, using tweezers to pull the unburned portions of the documents from the grate[cite: 1].
Officer Davis: Certified codicil from the Sarah Sterling Testamentary Trust, Mr. Sterling[cite: 1].
Caleb: What does the codicil state, Officer[cite: 1]?
Officer Davis: 'In the event of my passing, sixty percent of the Sterling Logistics voting stock transfers immediately to my children, under the sole executorship of my sister, Nadia Miller'[cite: 1].
Caleb closed his eyes, taking a long, shuddering breath as the puzzle pieces finally snapped together with brutal clarity[cite: 1].
Caleb: Sarah left the controlling interest of my company to her sister... To protect our children from gold diggers[cite: 1].
Nadia: Sarah knew your weakness, Caleb. She knew you were easily manipulated by women with pedigree and high-society titles[cite: 1].
Victoria: That codicil was never filed with the county clerk! It has zero legal validity in Texas[cite: 1]!
Nadia: It was filed forty-eight hours before Sarah died, Victoria. The original certified copy is locked inside the Dallas County courthouse vault[cite: 1].
Victoria's knees buckled again, and Officer Miller had to catch her by her arm to keep her upright[cite: 1].
Victoria: That's impossible... My family's probate attorney assured me the estate was undivided[cite: 1]!
Caleb: Your family's attorney was paid three hundred thousand dollars to hide Sarah's will from me, wasn't he[cite: 1]?
Victoria: Caleb, please! My family's shipping business was on the verge of bankruptcy! We needed the merger to survive[cite: 1]!
Caleb: So you pretended to love me, moved into my wife's home, and planned to drown my four-month-old infant[cite: 1]?!
Victoria: With Toby dead and Nadia discredited as a violent felon, the probate court would have appointed me as Leo's sole guardian[cite: 1]!
Leo: You said you were going to send me to a military academy in Switzerland so you wouldn't have to look at my face[cite: 1]!
Victoria: Shut up, you miserable brat[cite: 1]!
Officer Miller: That is quite enough, ma'am! Hands behind your back right now[cite: 1]!
Officer Miller shoved Victoria against the mahogany desk, wrenching her arms behind her back with unyielding firmness[cite: 1].
The heavy steel handcuffs clicked shut around her wrists with a sharp, hollow sound that echoed off the bookshelves[cite: 1].
Victoria: Ouch! You're tearing my dress! Caleb, call Arthur Vance at the Senate office! Call my father[cite: 1]!
Caleb: Your father was arrested at his country club forty minutes ago, Victoria[cite: 1].