Arthur knelt immediately at the edge of the pool deck, extending his hand down to Victoria. Victoria took her father's hand and pulled herself up out of the water, shivering despite the hot sun. Arthur wrapped a warm towel around her shoulders, his eyes full of regret and anger as he looked back at Brenda, who stood crying fake tears near the glass doors.
Arthur: Go to your room, Brenda. Do not say a single word to me until my lawyer arrives.
Brenda: Arthur, please, your daughter is lying! She insulted me first!
Arthur: I saw what you did with my own eyes! Get inside!
Victoria: Dad... she was trying to hide the financial papers from the study.
Arthur: What papers are you talking about, sweetheart?
Victoria: The papers about mom's original trust fund and the company shares.
Arthur helped Victoria sit down on a wooden sun lounger before turning his full attention to the house. The atmosphere inside the luxury mansion had completely changed from a peaceful home to a battlefield. Arthur walked into his private home office, with Victoria following closely behind him, her wet footprints soaking into the rich hardwood floor. Brenda stood near the corner of the office, her eyes fixed nervously on a steel wall safe hidden behind a framed American flag painting.
Arthur: Brenda, move away from that painting right now.
Brenda: You are letting your daughter destroy our marriage over a simple misunderstanding!
Arthur: A misunderstanding? You stepped on my daughter's hand while she was drowning!
Brenda: She fell! I was trying to hold her hand to pull her out!
Victoria: You stepped on my hand with your high heel, Brenda! You laughed in my face!
Arthur swung the framed painting open, revealing the heavy steel safe behind it. He quickly punched in his personal security code, and the safe clicked open with a metallic sound. Inside sat stacks of legal documents, real estate deeds, and the original copy of his late wife's last will and testament. Arthur pulled out a thick yellow folder that Brenda had moved to the back corner of the safe.
Arthur: Why is my late wife's trust fund document moved into this folder?
Brenda: I was just organizing your papers to help the accountant!
Victoria: She hired a foreign tax attorney last week, dad. I saw the emails on the home computer.
Brenda: You went through my private emails? That is illegal!
Arthur: What is illegal is stealing from my daughter's rightful inheritance, Brenda!
Brenda: I have been a loyal wife to you for five years!
Arthur: You have been leeching off my family business since the day we met!
Arthur opened the thick document and began reading through the pages line by line. His eyes grew wider as he realized the true scale of the betrayal. Brenda had been slowly transferring small amounts of money from the family trust fund into an off-shore account in her own mother's name. Over two million dollars had already been drained from the account over the last eighteen months, leaving Victoria's trust fund nearly empty.