Victoria: Dying? What do you mean you're dying?
Evelyn: Stage four cancer. The doctors gave me two months. I couldn't leave this world leaving Lily alone with nothing.
Victoria: Walk into the living room. Please. I'll get us water... or anything you need.
They walked into the massive, high-ceilinged living room adorned with expensive oil paintings and crystal chandeliers. Lily held Evelyn's arm tightly, looking around at the luxury with uncomfortable, quiet eyes.
Lily: It's so big... and cold.
Victoria: It has been cold for twenty years, Lily. Ever since the day I thought I lost you.
Evelyn: You need to know the whole truth, Victoria. Your mother, Eleanor, didn't just give me the baby. She made me sign an agreement.
Victoria: An agreement? What kind of legal agreement?
Evelyn: A non-disclosure contract and a custody transfer. She wired fifty thousand dollars to a private account every year to ensure I kept Lily hidden in New Mexico.
Victoria: My mother used estate funds to keep my child away from me?
Evelyn: She told me you were mentally unfit after your divorce, that you would destroy the baby's life. I believed her at first... until I realized how much money she was hiding from you.
Victoria: Eleanor died three years ago. She took that secret to her grave!
Evelyn: No, she didn't take it to her grave. She left a paper trail with her estate lawyer, Arthur Vance.
Victoria: Vance? He's still managing my family's legal affairs and trust funds!
Evelyn: Then he knows everything. He's the one who kept sending the payments after your mother passed away.
Victoria: That means Vance has been embezzling money from my inheritance under the guise of child support payments!
Lily: I never wanted any money! Grandma used that cash for my medical bills and my college tuition, nothing else!
Victoria: I know, sweetheart. I'm not blaming you. I'm realizing that the people I trusted most destroyed my life.
Evelyn: Vance told me last month that the payments were stopping because Eleanor's trust was dry. He threatened to call the police if I ever set foot in Dallas.
Victoria: He threatened you because he knew if you came to me, his entire scam would fall apart!
Lily: Grandma was terrified, but she brought me here anyway. She said I had a right to know who my real mother was.
Victoria: I am so sorry... I am so sorry for how I spoke to you outside. I was blind.
Evelyn: Apologies won't fix twenty lost years, Victoria. But justice might give Lily the future she deserves.
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