Harrison leaned heavily against the edge of the large oak desk, his jaw tightly clenched.
Harrison: My father always said Aunt Margaret gave up her shares voluntarily during the merger.
Elena: Voluntarily? He forged her signature on the buyout contract while she was hospitalized after my birth.
Victoria: That’s slander! You can be sued for millions for making claims like that against the Sterling estate!
Elena: You can't sue someone who owns forty percent of the land this mansion sits on.
Harrison: Forty percent... That was the original trust share allocation before the restructuring in 2004.
Victoria: Harrison, stop listening to her! She’s trying to extort money from your family on the night of our party!
Elena: I’m not asking for a single dollar from you, Victoria. I’m here for what is legally mine under the terms of my grandfather’s original will.
Elena reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a worn velvet pouch. She untied the silver drawstring and pulled out a small set of brass keys along with a folded document stamped by the state court.
Elena: My mother kept the original copy of the 1998 family trust agreement. The one your father thought he destroyed in the office fire.
Harrison: How did you even get hired here? How long have you been working in this house?
Elena: Six months. I applied through the domestic agency under my middle name. I needed to see how your father ran this empire before I filed the legal lawsuit.
Victoria: You stalked us! You infiltrated this home under false pretenses!
Elena: I took a job as a maid to survive, Miss Victoria. Something you have never had to do a single day in your life.
Harrison took the folded document from Elena's hand. His fingers trembled as he unfolded the parchment. The official state seal was crisp, and at the bottom lay the bold, unmistakable signature of his grandfather, alongside a clause detailing equal distribution among all blood heirs.
Harrison: This... this has a active clause. It says the estate cannot be transferred or sold without unanimous approval from all living children or their direct descendants.
Elena: Correct. Which means your father’s recent mortgage agreement on the Dallas property is legally void.
Victoria: What mortgage agreement? Harrison, what is she talking about?
Harrison: My father took out a fifty million dollar commercial loan against this house last month to save the holding company.
Elena: And because he concealed my existence from the bank, the entire loan constitutes bank fraud.
Victoria's face turned pale. She stepped closer to Harrison, clutching his tuxedo arm tightly, her eyes wide with mounting panic.
Victoria: Tell me she's making this up, Harrison. Tell me our wedding isn't tied to a fraudulent estate!
Harrison: I... I don't know, Victoria. The signature here is legitimate. My grandfather always used blue archival ink.
Elena: You can check the serial number with the county recorder. It was refiled last week by my divorce and inheritance lawyer.
Victoria: Divorce lawyer? You aren't even married!
Elena: My lawyer handles high-net-worth estate litigation. He was very interested when he saw the property deeds.
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