The ballroom remained in a stunned, breathless silence as Evelyn backed up against a tall marble pillar.
Evelyn: You slapped your own mother in front of the entire board of directors!
David: You are not a mother, Evelyn. You are a tyrant who just struck an innocent child.
Evelyn: She is a dirty little pest! She has been running around the kitchen all evening!
David: She was hungry because your staff refused to serve her dinner!
Evelyn: Servants don't feed unauthorized guests at a black-tie gala!
David: She is not an unauthorized guest! She is my daughter, the sole heiress to the Sterling estate!
Lily whimpered, clutching the piece of bread closer to her chest as her small body trembled.
Lily: Daddy... I didn't steal it... I found it on the floor...
David: I know, sweetie. I know you didn't do anything wrong.
Evelyn: Look at her lying! She was hiding near the pantry, eating scraps like a wild animal!
David: Why was my four-year-old daughter eating scraps in the pantry, Evelyn?
Evelyn: Because she doesn't belong in high society! You brought her here to humiliate me!
David: I brought her here because my wife passed away three months ago, and I refused to leave her alone!
Evelyn: Sarah's death was a tragedy, but it doesn't give you the right to ruin my family's reputation!
David: Your reputation is built on lies, Evelyn. And tonight, those lies end.
David stepped forward, holding Lily securely as he pointed his finger at the older woman.
David: You told the entire family that Sarah left zero dollars in her trust fund when she died.
Evelyn: She did! She spent all her money on her medical bills!
David: Sarah didn't pay for her medical bills out of her trust. Her insurance covered ninety percent of it.
Evelyn: That is confidential financial information that you have no business discussing here!
David: I am her husband, Evelyn! I have every right to know where my late wife's thirty-million-dollar inheritance went!
The surrounding guests gasped softly, turning to look at each other in disbelief.
Guest 1: Thirty million dollars? I thought Sarah died in debt!
Guest 2: That's what Evelyn told the board last month!
Evelyn: Silence! All of you, mind your own business!
David: They don't need to mind their business, Evelyn. The truth is going to be public record by tomorrow morning.
Evelyn: You wouldn't dare open an audit against your own family's trust fund!
David: I already did. The forensic accountants finished their report two hours ago.
Evelyn's face paled slightly, though she quickly smoothed down her lace gown with trembling hands.
Evelyn: Forensic accountants? You spent money on auditors without my board approval?
David: As primary executor of Sarah's estate, I don't need your approval for anything.
Evelyn: You are destroying this family over a dead woman's pocket change!
David: Thirty million dollars isn't pocket change, Evelyn. And it was meant for Lily.
Lily: Daddy... Grandma told me if I ate the bread, she would lock me in the dark room again...
David froze, his blood turning to ice as he looked down at his daughter's tear-stained face.
David: What did you say, Lily? What dark room?