Sarah: You don't understand what you've just done, Marcus.
Marcus: I know exactly what I've done. I'm stopping this nightmare.
Sarah: You think I chose this? My father forced me into the family business contract when I was twenty-one!
Marcus: That doesn't give you the right to lock a human being in a hole!
Sarah: He wasn't human anymore, Marcus! He was insane!
The steel door creaked wider, slamming hard against the interior concrete frame. A tall, gaunt figure emerged into the bright daylight of the living room, blinking painfully against the sunshine. His clothes were tattered rags, his beard wild and matted, and his skin pulled tight over hollow cheekbones.
Julian: Sunlight... actual sunlight...
Marcus: Don't move! I have a hammer, but I don't want to hurt you!
Julian: Hurt me? You broke the barrier, stranger... you freed me.
Sarah: Julian... please... stay where you are.
Julian: Hello, little sister. You look so comfortable in father's luxury car, living off my share of the life insurance settlement.
Sarah: I paid off the mortgage! I kept the estate from total foreclosure after Dad died!
Julian: You let Dad put the electronic lock on the steel door from the outside! You stood right where you are standing now and watched him turn the wheel lock!
Marcus turned his head slowly toward Sarah, his eyes filled with sheer disgust.
Marcus: You watched him lock him in?
Sarah: He was violent, Marcus! He tried to burn down the penthouse in Chicago!
Julian: Because Dad stole my trust fund! He falsified the will to give everything to you!
Marcus: Is that true, Sarah? Did your father forge the will?
Sarah: It was for the family! Julian was going to throw away millions on bad debts!
Julian: Millions that belonged to me! You starved me in the dark, feeding me through a mechanical tray slot once a week like a zoo animal!
Marcus: Wait... someone was feeding him? Who was delivering food to this house?
Sarah: The groundskeeper... Dad set up an automated trust account before he died to pay him off.
Marcus: Old Miller? The man who comes every Tuesday morning to clean the garage?
Sarah: Yes! He was under a strict legal contract!
Marcus: That's not a legal contract, Sarah! That's criminal conspiracy!
Sirens began to wail in the distance, their shrill cry echoing down the quiet suburban street of Dallas. Julian looked toward the front window, his pale eyes filling with water as he saw the flashing red and blue lights reflecting off the white trim.
Julian: Police?
Marcus: Yes. Help is here. Nobody is going to hurt you anymore.
Sarah: Marcus, if the police come in here, our whole life is over. The divorce lawyer, the custody battle... they will take Lily away from us!
Marcus: You took away ten years of this man's life for money! You don't get to talk about protecting our family anymore!
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