Evelyn: Arthur! What is the meaning of this?! Dismiss these officers immediately!
Lawyer Vance: I cannot do that, Evelyn. The board of directors reviewed the original DNA registry files from St. Jude's Hospital an hour ago.
Evelyn: Those files were sealed by court order!
Lawyer Vance: They were unsealed by the state supreme court when Clara Sterling filed her primary trust claim yesterday morning.
Lawyer Vance opened a thick black leather folder, pulling out an official document stamped with a gold state seal and the crest of the United States federal court.
Lawyer Vance: The DNA verification is a ninety-nine point nine percent match. Clara is the biological daughter of Arthur Sterling and Evelyn Sterling.
A fresh wave of shocked gasps swept through the ballroom. High-society ladies covered their mouths, while corporate board members shook their heads in utter disgust.
Board Member Miller: Disgraceful... she hid her own daughter to control the voting shares!
Board Member Davis: We vote to execute the emergency removal of Evelyn Sterling from the board effective immediately!
Evelyn: You can't remove me! I own thirty percent of the corporate shares!
Lawyer Vance: You owned those shares under the assumption that there was no primary heir, Evelyn. Under Clause Fourteen of the Sterling Trust, all corporate voting proxies revert automatically to Clara upon formal identification.
Clara: Which means I control fifty-one percent of Sterling Global starting right now.
Evelyn thrashed her arms against the marble floor, her emerald gown rumpling as she looked up at Clara with a mixture of terror and desperation.
Evelyn: Clara, please! I am your mother! I brought you into this world!
Clara: You gave birth to me, Evelyn. But you were never my mother.
Evelyn: I did it to protect the company! If the board knew I had a daughter out of wedlock before the merger, we would have lost everything!
Julian: You didn't do it to protect the company, Mother. You did it so you could spend Father's money on luxury gowns and diamond necklaces while Clara grew up in a shelter!
Officer Davis: Evelyn Sterling, you are under arrest for grand forgery, child abandonment, wire fraud, and felony public assault.
The two uniformed officers stepped forward, pulling Evelyn up from the cold white marble. The sharp, metallic click of steel handcuffs echoed clearly through the quiet ballroom.
Evelyn: Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?! I am the mistress of this estate!
Officer Davis: You have the right to remain silent, ma'am. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.