Marcus turned slowly to face his stepmother, holding the black ledger binder firmly in his right hand.
Marcus: They aren't homeless people, Victoria. This is David Miller and his daughter Lily.
Victoria's face turned completely white, her diamond earrings shaking as she stepped back into the doorway.
Victoria: David Miller?! How... how did you find him?!
Marcus: He was living under the river bridge because you hid his forty-million-dollar inheritance account!
Victoria: That account was sealed by your father's corporate legal team! It was never meant to be opened!
David: You knew I was sick! You knew my wife died with no medical insurance!
David stood up from the armchair, his voice rising in fierce, desperate anger.
David: You paid the factory foreman to blackball me from every engineering job in this state!
Victoria: Shut your mouth! You were a low-level worker! You had no right to challenge the Vance family name!
Marcus: DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT IN MY HOUSE!
Marcus's voice boomed off the tall ceilings, making Victoria jump in terror.
Marcus: I controlled fifty-one percent of the Vance Corporation voting shares as of midnight yesterday!
Victoria: Marcus, listen to me! I am your father's widow! Everything I did was to protect your inheritance!
Marcus: You didn't protect my inheritance—you committed fraud, forgery, and grand theft against a dying man and his innocent child!
Victoria: If you give him that money, the company stock will crash! We will lose our standing in high society!
Marcus: I don't care about high society! I care about doing what is right!
Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, hitting speed dial for his private attorney.
Marcus: Arthur Vance Jr., release the forty-million-dollar escrow funds to David Miller immediately. And file a criminal complaint against Victoria Vance for embezzlement.
Victoria: Marcus! No! You can't ruin your own family name for these nobodies!
Marcus: The police are already on their way, Victoria. Pack your bags and get out of my sight.
Victoria gasped, clutching her red silk dress as she turned and ran down the hallway in tears of utter panic.