Victoria: *Sobbing wildly* I was his wife! I deserved a share of the estate! You had everything, Alexis! You had the security business, the Houston penthouse, the trust funds!
Alexis: I earned every business I built, Victoria! You married my father when he was eighty-two years old and suffering from dementia!
Victoria: He was lucid when he signed the prenup waiver!
Alexis: He couldn't even recognize his own daughter's face on his final birthday! Don't talk to me about lucid!
Alexis stood tall once more, adjusting her white tuxedo cuffs as she looked around at the gathered crowd. Her commanding presence held everyone spellbound.
Alexis: For six months, this woman controlled the Sterling estate. She fired my father's loyal household staff, locked up the family archives, and tried to sell off our land in Fort Worth.
Guest 6: She told us you agreed to the land sale, Alexis!
Alexis: She forged my signature on the power of attorney documents. Just like she forged the signature on my father's revised will.
Victoria: *Clutching her ribs* You can't prove it was forged! The notary public stamped those papers in front of witnesses!
Alexis: The notary public was your cousin, Marcus. And he already confessed to federal investigators two hours ago when they pulled him off his flight to Mexico.
Victoria gasped, dropping her head onto the cold marble floor as fresh tears smeared her makeup across her face.
Victoria: Marcus... that idiot weakling...
Alexis: He traded a full confession for a reduced sentence. He gave up everything, Victoria. The offshore accounts, the forged deeds, and the names of the four men you hired to attack me this morning.
Victoria: They were supposed to keep you in that parking garage until the probate court hearing was finished at noon!
Alexis: Well, your four thugs are currently sitting in an ambulance with broken jaws. You should have hired better help.
The crowd chuckled nervously, amazed by the sheer toughness of the woman in the white tuxedo.
Guest 7: Man, she took down four hired hitmen and still made it to the gala in a white suit!
Guest 8: That's Thomas Sterling's real blood right there. You can't break an American security veteran.
Alexis: The probate judge signed an emergency injunction twenty minutes ago. All assets associated with the Sterling trust fund have been frozen, and the deed to this mansion has been legally returned to my name.
Victoria: You're throwing me out on the street... after everything I gave to this family?
Alexis: You gave this family nothing but misery, lies, and poison. You're not going to the street, Victoria. You're going to a maximum-security state penitentiary.
Distant police sirens began to wail in the distance, their high-pitched screams echoing down the long, gated driveway of the Dallas estate.
Alexis: Hear that? That's the sound of your reign ending.
Victoria scrambled to her feet, her yellow dress torn near the hem and her red hair a messy tangle. She looked frantically around the room, searching for an escape route.
Victoria: Get out of my way! All of you, move!
Alexis: Don't even think about running, Victoria. The gates are already locked from the master control console.