Behind The Sealed Steel

Daniel: Toby, get up right behind me. Victoria, what did you do?

Victoria: Daniel, darling, calm down! The boy is having nightmares again! He fell on his own!

Toby: She shoved me, Dad! She shoved me and she turned the big wheel on the safe!

Daniel: Victoria, step away from that door right now.

Victoria: Daniel, listen to reason! Arthur became agitated after lunch. He started shouting nonsense about changing his will and tearing up our marriage agreement!

Daniel: Did you lock my father inside a reinforced security vault?

Victoria: He walked in there himself to hide! He had another episode! I was merely trying to keep him safe until the private doctors arrived!

Daniel: Shut your mouth!

Daniel lunged toward the vault door, planting his feet firmly against the marble floor as his hands gripped the heavy chrome wheel handle. The metal groaned under his furious strength, gears grinding and releasing with a loud, mechanical thud.

Victoria: Daniel, don't open it! You're going to upset him further!

Daniel: Get out of my face before I lose my temper completely!

Daniel threw the heavy steel door open, the hydraulic hinges shrieking under the sudden force. Bright interior halogen lights spilled across the marble floor, illuminating the cold, cramped safe.

Toby: Grandpa!

Curled up on the cold floor among stacks of legal files and velvet jewelry boxes lay seventy-two-year-old Arthur Miller. His white hair was soaked with sweat, his thin fingers clutching his chest as he gashed for air.

Arthur: Daniel... oh, God, Daniel...

Daniel: Dad! Look at me, look at me! Breathe, Dad!

Arthur: She... she stole the amended deed... she dragged me in here and slammed the door...

Daniel: Hang on, Dad. I've got you. Toby, bring me the glass of water from the side table right now!

Toby: Running, Dad!

Daniel scooped his frail father into his arms, lifting him gently out of the vault and laying him down against the plush velvet sofa in the main sitting area. Arthur's pulse fluttered weakly beneath Daniel's trembling fingers.

Victoria: Arthur, stop lying to your son! You know you're not well! You forgot your heart medication this morning!

Arthur: You... you took my pills away... you threw the bottle into the kitchen sink...

Daniel: You threw away his medication?

Daniel slowly rose to his full height, his eyes burning into Victoria with a cold, terrifying intensity that made her instinctively back away toward the grand staircase.

Victoria: He's confused, Daniel! He's senile! You can't take the word of an old man losing his mind over your devoted wife!

Daniel: He isn't senile. But you are about to discover what happens when you touch my family.

Victoria: Daniel, wait! Please, let me explain what happened earlier today!

Daniel: The only place you're explaining anything is to the police.

Arthur grabbed Daniel's sleeve with surprising firmness, his wheezing voice cutting through the rising shouting match.

Arthur: The briefcase, son... look inside her leather handbag before she hides it...