Daniel froze in his tracks with the pocket knife held in his hand.
He turned his head slowly to look back at his cold mother, Victoria.
Daniel: What do you mean by that statement, Mother?
Victoria: Your father changed the primary beneficiary terms seven days before his heart failed.
Sarah stepped carefully away from the railing and moved closer to Martha's side.
Martha wrapped her arm around Sarah's waist to support her balance gently.
Daniel: Father promised me that I would be the sole managing director and heir!
Victoria: He knew about your huge secret gambling debts in Las Vegas, Daniel.
The air on the balcony became completely quiet except for the rustling wind trees.
Daniel's face turned completely ghost white as his secret was exposed in public.
Sarah: Gambling debts? Daniel, what is she talking about right now?
Victoria: He lost three million dollars of corporate company money on underground games.
Victoria: Your father found out through the bank audit just before he fell ill.
Daniel lowered the small pocket knife and closed the metal blade into handle.
He looked at his mother with desperation and fear rising in his eyes.
Daniel: You said you helped me cover up those bank records from lawyers!
Victoria: I tried to protect our family reputation, but Arthur was too smart.
Victoria: He placed the entire property empire into a protected irrevocable living trust structure.
Sarah: And who is the main named trustee of that living trust account?
Victoria looked directly at Sarah with a bitter and defeated expression on face.
Victoria: The entire estate goes directly to Arthur's first biological grandchild upon birth.
Victoria: And until the child turns twenty-one, the sole legal custodian is Sarah.
Daniel dropped his pocket knife onto the concrete stone balcony floor with clatter.
He stared at Sarah as if seeing her for the very first time.
Daniel: You knew this all along! You trapped me into this marriage!
Sarah: I swear on my child's life that I had no idea until now!
Martha: Mr. Arthur was a good man who wanted to protect his lineage.
Martha: He knew his own son was ruining the family legacy with bad habits.
Daniel backed away toward the open glass French doors in absolute emotional collapse.
His mother Victoria looked at him with cold disappointment replacing her former pride.
Victoria: You ruined everything for us with your reckless greed and stupid choices.
Sarah: The lawyer papers you tried to make me sign were a fraud.
Sarah: You were trying to trick me into surrendering my child's legal rights.