Brenda rushed up the carpeted stairs to gather her suitcases from the upstairs guest room.
Mark followed her closely from a safe distance to ensure she did not damage anything else.
Sarah picked up the small silver key from the kitchen table and held it tightly.
Her baby Leo had finally stopped crying and was resting quietly inside his soft stroller.
Sarah walked toward the living room desk where her father's old locked box had stayed untouched.
She inserted the silver key into the tiny lock and turned it until it clicked open.
Inside lay a yellowed envelope written in her late father's familiar and neat handwriting style.
Sarah opened the paper gently, reading the short note written just weeks before his passing.
The letter revealed that Brenda had already received her full cash inheritance three years ago.
She had lost all of that money in failed stock market ventures overseas.
Sarah: She lied about being left out of the father's final trust account completely!
Mark walked back down the stairs holding Brenda's heavy black rolling suitcase behind him.
Brenda followed right behind him, her purse slung tightly over her dark woolen sweater.
Mark: Here is your luggage Brenda, and my lawyer is already drafting the legal notice.
Sarah: Father gave you three hundred thousand dollars three years ago to pay your debts!
Brenda froze on the bottom step of the staircase, her jaw dropping open in surprise.
Brenda: He was never supposed to put that detail down on official paper files!
Sarah: You came into my home pretending to be poor so you could take my house!
Brenda: I deserved more than what he gave me because I spent years taking care of him!
Sarah: You abandoned him when he needed help and only returned when he passed away!
Brenda stood in the hallway, exposed completely for her deceitful actions over the past years.
She grabbed her suitcase handle from Mark with a bitter snatch of her hand.
Brenda: You think you have won Sarah, but this family will never be the same again!
Sarah: I have my real family right here, and you are no longer welcome near us.