A Web of Lies

Maria: Mr. Vance, please! You're making a terrible mistake! I've worked for your family for three years!

Marcus: And for three years, I trusted you with my home and my child. But this jammer didn't buy itself.

Evelyn: Marcus, look at her apron string. There's a wire running up into her collar.

Marcus: Step back, Evelyn. Hold Leo.

Evelyn quickly took the crying baby back into her arms, pressing his small face softly against her shoulder as he began to calm down.

Marcus: Maria, turn around.

Maria: No! Don't touch me! You have no right!

Marcus: I own this entire property, Maria. Every square foot. If you don't cooperate, I'm pressing charges for corporate espionage and attempted kidnapping right now.

Maria: Kidnapping?! I was protecting the child!

Marcus: You grabbed a toddler off his mother, tried to frame her for child abuse, and manipulated my private server. That carries twenty years in federal prison.

Maria: It wasn't my idea! I was forced into it!

Evelyn: Forced by who, Maria?! Who wanted to ruin my family?!

Maria: Your sister-in-law!

Marcus: Victoria?

Maria: Yes! Victoria! She said if I helped frame Evelyn for endangering the baby, you would file for sole custody and hire a full-time legal guardian!

Evelyn: Victoria... my sister-in-law wanted to take my baby away?

Maria: She promised me two hundred thousand dollars and a place in her new estate in Austin! She said Evelyn was an outsider who didn't deserve the family inheritance!

Marcus: Victoria doesn't control the family trust fund. I do.

Maria: She said once Evelyn was out of the picture, she would convince you to transfer the child's trust assets into a joint management account with her!

Evelyn: That is sick... she used a tiny baby as a pawn for money!

Marcus: Where is Victoria right now, Maria?

Maria: She's waiting in the guest house near the back gate! She was waiting for me to call her after the police took Evelyn away!

Marcus: So she's still on the grounds.

Evelyn: Marcus, what are you going to do?

Marcus: Exactly what a father and a lawyer should do when someone threatens his family.

Marcus tapped his phone again, dialing his head of security directly.

Marcus: Arthur? Secure the guest house. Do not let my sister leave under any circumstances.

Arthur: Understood, Mr. Vance. We have the perimeter locked down.

Marcus: Good. Bring her to the main study. It's time for a family meeting.