Victoria: What... what do you mean recorded?! The security system in this wing was turned off for the party!
Alexis: I turned it back on twenty minutes ago, Victoria. I own the private security company that built this house.
Victoria: You're lying! You don't own anything!
Alexis: My father gave me fifty-one percent of Sterling Security three years before he died. Did you really think I didn't have full admin access to my own family's mansion?
Alexis stepped closer, her black leather boots making a sharp clicking sound against the marble floor as she stood directly beside Victoria's head.
Alexis: I AM THE ONE IN CHARGE HERE!
Alexis's voice boomed through the foyer, carrying an absolute authority that silenced every guest in the room. Victoria shuddered, shrinking back against the bottom stair.
Victoria: *Whimpering* Alexis... please... we're family... we can settle this in private!
Alexis: Family?! You called my father a foolish old man while he lay in the hospital!
Victoria: I cared for him! I stayed by his bedside every night while you were away in Houston running your security firm!
Alexis: You stayed by his bedside to make sure the doctor kept giving him those high-dose sedatives!
The crowd gasped again. Several prominent Dallas business leaders exchanged shocked glances, backing even further away from Victoria.
Guest 4: Sedatives?! Is she talking about poisoning?
Guest 5: I told you something wasn't right with Thomas's death! He went downhill way too fast!
Victoria: It was a prescribed medical treatment! The doctor signed off on every single dose!
Alexis: The doctor you paid two hundred thousand dollars to from my father's offshore trust account!
Alexis reached into her inner jacket pocket, pulling out a sealed clear plastic bag containing a small flash drive and several sheets of paper.
Alexis: I have the bank transfer receipts, Victoria. The wire went directly from the estate trust fund to Dr. Harrison's account in the Cayman Islands three days before Dad went into a coma.
Victoria: That wire was for medical equipment! My lawyers approved it!
Alexis: Your lawyers are currently being detained by federal agents at their law firm downtown.
Victoria's jaw dropped. The color completely drained from her freckled face, leaving her looking hollow and defeated on the white floor.
Victoria: You... you contacted the feds?
Alexis: I contacted everyone. FBI, Texas Rangers, and the Dallas Police Department.
Alexis leaned down, her bruised and cut face inches from Victoria's terrified eyes. The red mark on Alexis's cheek was swollen, but her gaze was stone cold.
Alexis: TEXAS POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY! CALL 911 RIGHT NOW! 🇺🇸
Alexis shouted the command toward the crowd of guests, her voice echoing with fierce determination under the framed American flag.
Alexis: Anyone who assisted this woman in altering my father's will is going to prison today!
Two young men in tuxedoes immediately whipped out their iPhones, dialing emergency services as Victoria began to weep hysterically on the floor.
Victoria: No... no, please! Don't let them take me! I didn't mean to hurt him! I just wanted the money!
Alexis: You took my father's life for money. And now you're going to give back every single cent.