Victoria: Ethan, listen to me! That's just old house debris! It's nothing!
Ethan: Don't tell me what it is! I grew up in this mansion!
Clara: There's a leather box inside... it has the family crest on it.
Ethan: Stand back, Clara. Keep the baby safe.
Ethan reached into the dark opening, his knuckles scraping against old plaster as he pulled out a dust-covered mahogany box fitted with a heavy brass lock.
Victoria: Put that back! You have no right to open private property in my house!
Ethan: Your house? This estate belongs to the Sterling Trust, Victoria. It never belonged to you!
Victoria: I am your wife! What's yours is mine!
Ethan: We signed a prenup, Victoria. A ironclad prenup that you thought you could bypass!
Victoria: Ethan, please, you're making a huge mistake in front of the help!
Ethan: Clara isn't just the help! And you know that better than anyone, don't you?
Victoria took a step back, her eyes darting toward the front door as her breath hitched.
Victoria: I don't know what you're talking about. She's a hired maid!
Ethan: My mother left a full inventory of her estate before she died five years ago. Key legal documents went missing the same week you moved in.
Clara: Mr. Ethan... my grandmother always told me my mother left something for me here before she worked for your family.
Ethan: Your mother was my father's rightful legal ward, Clara. That makes you family.
Victoria: She's lying! She's a con artist trying to steal your inheritance!
Ethan: The brass key to this box was around my mother's neck when she passed. I kept it on my watch chain. Watch this, Victoria.
Ethan pulled a small silver key from his vest pocket and inserted it into the rusted lock. With a sharp click, the box popped open.
Victoria: No! Don't look at those papers!
Ethan: Papers? You said it was just house debris!
Victoria: It's personal family business that doesn't concern a hired servant!
Ethan: Let's see what my mother felt the need to hide behind a false wall.
Ethan unfolded a thick stack of yellowed parchment bearing the gold seal of the Texas State Supreme Court.
Ethan: "Last Will and Testament of Eleanor Sterling... To my beloved granddaughter, Clara Sterling..."
Clara: Granddaughter? What... what does that mean?
Ethan: It means my late older brother was your biological father, Clara. You are a legal Sterling heir.
Victoria: That document is a fake! It was forged!
Ethan: My mother's signature is notarized by our corporate attorney! You knew about this, didn't you?
Victoria: Ethan, it was an accident! I found the box three years ago! I didn't destroy it!
Ethan: You hid it! You kept her living in the servant quarters while she was entitled to half this estate!
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