Evelyn: Robert, stop! If you call the police, the press will destroy our stock value by tomorrow morning!
Robert: I don't care about the stock value! You committed child abuse, illegal confinement, and corporate fraud!
Evelyn: I didn't act alone, Robert! Your stepbrother Marcus knew about the boy the whole time!
Robert stopped with the phone at his ear, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Evelyn.
Robert: Marcus knew?
Evelyn: Marcus paid the clinic doctor fifty thousand dollars to sign Sarah's death certificate seven years ago! He took twenty percent of the trust fund dividends every single month to keep his mouth shut!
Robert: My stepbrother was helping you starve my nephew under my own house?!
Evelyn: Marcus was the one who installed the secondary locking latch on the subfloor foundation six years ago!
The phone speaker chimed as Detective Vance answered on the third ring.
Detective Vance: Detective Vance, state major crimes unit.
Robert: Detective Vance, this is Robert Sterling. I need an emergency police and medical team sent to my estate immediately.
Detective Vance: Mr. Sterling? Is there an active intruder on the property?
Robert: I just smashed through my living room floor with a sledgehammer, Detective. I found my seven-year-old nephew, Toby, trapped in a hidden chamber beneath the subfloor.
A long, shocked pause stretched across the line before the detective spoke again, his voice cold and sharp.
Detective Vance: Did you say a seven-year-old child was living under your floorboards, Mr. Sterling?
Robert: Yes. And my wife, Evelyn, just confessed to conspiring with Marcus Sterling to hide him here for seven years to steal forty million dollars from our family trust.
Evelyn: Robert! You fool! You're going to prison with me for corporate negligence!
Robert: Detective Vance, bring three squad units. And send a unit to Marcus Sterling's penthouse downtown before he tries to flee the country.
Detective Vance: Patrol cars are rolling right now, Mr. Sterling. Keep the child safe and do not let anyone touch the scene.
Robert hung up the phone, setting it on the marble table. He picked up Toby in his arms, wrapping his suit jacket around the trembling boy to keep him warm.
Lily: Daddy, can Toby have my room? I have two beds in there!
Robert: Toby is going to have the biggest bedroom on the second floor, Lily. And he is never going to feel cold again.
Evelyn backed away toward the front entryway, her eyes darting toward the heavy double oak doors as distant sirens began to echo down the long estate driveway.
Evelyn: You've destroyed everything we built, Robert! Everything!
Robert: You destroyed yourself seven years ago when you chose money over a child's life, Evelyn.