A group of four men in dark tailored business suits walked briskly through the grand entrance, their leather shoes clicking loudly on the marble floor.
At the front of the group stood Arthur Sterling, Lucas's uncle and the senior director of the Sterling family foundation.
Arthur: Lucas! What is the meaning of this urgent summons? We had to cancel our executive budget meeting downtown!
Lucas: Uncle Arthur, thank goodness you arrived on time. Take a look at the floor.
Arthur stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes darting from Victoria sitting disheveled on the tiles to little Noah clutching Lucas's shoulder.
Arthur: Victoria? Why are you sitting on the floor in your evening gown? What happened to your cheek?
Victoria: Arthur! Thank God you're here! Lucas has completely lost his mind! He assaulted me!
Arthur: Lucas, did you strike your fiancee?
Lucas: She is not my fiancee, Uncle Arthur. And five minutes ago, she shoved Noah off the second-floor balcony landing!
The three board directors standing behind Arthur gasped in unison, their eyes widening in sheer disbelief.
Director Miller: Pushed a two-year-old down the grand staircase?!
Victoria: It was an accident! The boy tripped over his own shoes! Lucas is exaggerating to ruin our engagement!
Lucas: An accident, Victoria? Did you accidentally scream, 'A bastard like you doesn't belong in this house' right before you pushed him?
Arthur: Did you say those words, Victoria?
Victoria pressed her fingers against her bruised cheek, her arrogance quickly turning into cold, desperate panic.
Victoria: The boy has no verified birth registration! He is a risk to our family's corporate shares!
Lucas: Uncle Arthur, pick up that black clipboard from the floor beside her.
Arthur leaned down, picking up the official laboratory papers and adjusting his reading glasses under the chandelier light.
He scanned the first page, his eyebrows shooting up in utter shock before flipping to the second sheet.
Arthur: Good Lord... Noah is a verified direct descendant of my brother Thomas!
Lucas: Ninety-nine point nine-nine percent biological certainty, Uncle Arthur. Stamped by the state medical examiner's office.
Arthur: Which means under my father's original will, sixty percent of the primary voting shares belong entirely to this child!
Director Miller: Sixty percent? That means the proposed merger with Vance Financial is legally invalid!
Victoria: Invalid?! My father already signed the preliminary merger contracts two days ago!
Lucas: Your father signed contracts using forged proxy votes, Victoria!
Victoria: That is an outrageous lie! My father is an honorable corporate executive!
Lucas: Look at page one of that clipboard, Uncle Arthur. Read the paternity results for Richard Vance's adopted child.
Arthur turned back to the first sheet, his face growing dark with deep, simmering fury as he read the lines.
Arthur: Richard Vance has a secret biological child funded by corporate embezzlement?
Lucas: Eight million dollars stolen directly from our employee pension reserves over the last three years.
Director Miller: Eight million dollars?! We just audited that account last month and found no discrepancies!
Lucas: Because Victoria's personal accounting firm handled the external compliance review!
Victoria scrambled backward on her knees, her hands catching on the hem of her maroon gown as she tried to pull herself upright.
Victoria: I was only following my father's instructions! He told me the funds were an executive bridge loan!
Lucas: An executive bridge loan doesn't buy diamond jewelry and sports cars for a mistress in Illinois, Victoria!
Arthur: This is grand larceny, wire fraud, and attempted murder on a corporate heir!
Victoria: Arthur, please! We have known each other for twenty years! We can resolve this quietly without the press!
Lucas: There will be no quiet resolutions today, Victoria. Listen closely to what's coming up the driveway.
From beyond the tall front windows, the rising wail of police sirens echoed down the tree-lined estate road, cutting through the tense silence of the grand foyer.