The heavy mahogany doors of Charles's private study slammed shut behind him as Victoria marched in right at his heels.
Victoria: We are not finished talking, Charles!
Charles: You are finished speaking in this house until my attorney arrives.
Victoria: Your attorney? Have you completely lost your mind over an adopted stray?
Charles: He is not an adopted stray! Julian was my brother, and this baby is his rightful son!
Victoria: Julian abandoned this family years ago! He died in a cheap car crash with nothing to his name!
Charles: That's what you told me. That's what you made me believe for three months.
Charles spun around and walked directly to the painting hanging behind his oak desk.
With one swift motion, he swung the oil portrait aside, revealing a heavy steel wall safe.
Victoria: What are you doing in there? That safe contains my private jewelry and our prenup!
Charles: It contains the truth you locked away while Julian was dying in the hospital.
Victoria: Don't open that, Charles. I'm warning you.
Charles: You're warning me? In my own family home?
He turned the combination dial with rapid, practiced clicks until the heavy latch popped open.
Inside sat velvet jewelry boxes, stacks of bearer bonds, and a thick manila envelope sealed with red wax.
Victoria: Give that to me! That is personal correspondence from my family estate!
Charles snatched the envelope before her hand could reach inside.
Charles: This has my brother's personal wax stamp on it. Why do you have Julian's sealed letters?
Victoria: He mailed it to me to hold onto! He knew you were too busy with the corporate merger!
Charles: Julian never trusted you, Victoria. Not for a single day of our marriage.
He ripped the wax seal open, pulling out several folded legal documents and a handwritten letter.
Victoria: Charles, please, don't read that trash. He was hallucinating on painkillers when he wrote it.
Charles: Let's see what my dying brother wanted me to know.
Charles scanned the first page, his face draining of all color as his breathing turned shallow.
Charles: "To my brother Charles... If you are reading this, Victoria has succeeded in keeping me from seeing you."
Victoria: He was mentally unstable, Charles! Every doctor at the facility knew that!
Charles: "She intercepted the life insurance policy. She forged my signature on the baby's custody release."
Victoria grabbed the corner of the paper, trying to tear it from his grip.
Victoria: Stop reading! It's slander! I will sue his entire estate for defamation!
Charles shoved her hands away, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy whisper.
Charles: Look at this date, Victoria. This was signed three days before the crash.
Victoria: So what? People write nonsense all the time before surgeries!
Charles: He wrote down the license plate of the black SUV that followed him from the bank.
Victoria's hands began to tremble, her face turning pale beneath her heavy makeup.
Victoria: I don't know anything about any car. That accident was an open-and-shut case.
Charles: The license plate matches the registration of your brother's private vehicle.
Victoria: That's a coincidence! You can't accuse my family of murder over a coincidence!
Charles: Where is the original copy of the family trust will, Victoria?
Victoria: Burned. It was nullified when your father passed away.
Charles: You're lying to me again. You've been lying since the day I put a wedding ring on your finger.
A knock came at the study door, sharp and persistent.
Charles: Who is it?
Clara: Mr. Sterling! The doctor is here! But there are men outside trying to get in through the garden gate!
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