Clara: You paid a private laboratory to tamper with Julian's tissue samples, didn't you[cite: 1]?
Eleanor: I don't pay anyone to lie! I simply protected my family from an extortion scheme[cite: 1]!
Clara: An extortion scheme? I raised Lily alone in an apartment for three years while Julian worked overseas[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: You took fifty thousand dollars from Julian's checking account every single month[cite: 1]!
Clara: That was child support ordered by the family court while Julian traveled for defense contracts[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: And you used that money to buy expensive designer clothes while my son was dying in a hospital bed[cite: 1]!
Clara: Look at my clothes, Eleanor! Look at this ten-dollar shirt and these worn-out boots[cite: 1]!
Lily sniffled, tugging gently on Clara's sleeve with her small fingers[cite: 1, 5].
Lily: Mommy, the lady is lying... She told me yesterday that you were never coming back[cite: 1]!
Clara: She told you I wasn't coming back[cite: 1]?
Lily: She said you took a bus to California and left me here forever[cite: 1]!
Clara's vision flared crimson with a mother's unyielding fury[cite: 1, 5].
She pulled the sealed white legal envelope from her back pocket, the gold seal of the Texas Supreme Court gleaming under the chandelier[cite: 1, 5].
Clara: You told my baby girl that her own mother abandoned her[cite: 1]?
Eleanor: It would have been better for her if you had stayed in California, Clara[cite: 1]!
Clara: I wasn't in California, Eleanor! I was in Austin at the state forensic medical archive[cite: 1]!
Eleanor's smug sneer began to stiffen around her lips, her eyes darting to the document in Clara's hand[cite: 1, 5].
Eleanor: What were you doing in the state archives[cite: 1]?
Clara: I was retrieving the sealed post-mortem DNA profile that Julian filed with the federal registrar before his final deployment[cite: 1].
Eleanor: Julian never filed anything with a federal registrar! He gave all his power of attorney to me[cite: 1]!
Clara: Julian knew you, Eleanor! He knew your greed had no boundaries[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: Give me that envelope right now! That is confidential family correspondence[cite: 1]!
Clara: This is an official court decree signed by Judge Harrison this morning at eight AM[cite: 1]!
Clara ripped the top of the envelope open, pulling out three crisp parchment sheets stamped with dark blue notary ink[cite: 1, 5].
She held the top page directly in front of Eleanor's face, her voice steady and razor-sharp[cite: 1, 5].
Clara: Read line fourteen aloud, Eleanor! Read the genetic probability percentage[cite: 1]!
Eleanor grabbed her gold reading glasses from her silk handbag, her hands shaking so hard the chain rattled against her necklace[cite: 1, 5].
Eleanor: 'Paternal match verification: Julian Marcus Sterling and Lily Rose Sterling... Ninety-nine point nine-nine-eight percent'[cite: 1]...
Clara: She is his daughter! She carries Marcus's blood, Julian's blood, and every legal right to this estate[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: This... This is impossible! Dr. Vance assured me that the tissue samples were destroyed after the funeral[cite: 1]!
Clara: Dr. Vance was arrested outside Dallas General forty minutes ago, Eleanor[cite: 1]!
Eleanor's breath caught in her throat, her face draining of every drop of color until she looked like damp chalk[cite: 1, 5].
Eleanor: Arrested...? On what charges could they possibly arrest the chief of pathology[cite: 1]?!
Clara: On charges of falsifying vital medical records, grand perjury, and receiving five hundred thousand dollars in offshore bribes[cite: 1]!
Eleanor: He gave you up... That cowardly little doctor gave you the bank records[cite: 1]?!
Clara: He surrendered every text message, every bank wire, and your audio recordings to the Texas Rangers[cite: 1]!
The heavy front doors chimed as the entrance opened again, the sound of heavy leather dress shoes clicking across the marble floor[cite: 1, 5].
Walking into the foyer was Arthur Sterling, Julian's uncle and the senior managing trustee of Sterling Global Logistics[cite: 1, 5].