Ryan: Get out of my house! You don't have a search warrant!
Auditor 1: We don't need a search warrant, Mr. Vance. Mrs. Sterling is the sole trustee of this property and granted us full access two days ago.
Ryan: She isn't the sole trustee! Our marriage contract gives me fifty percent management authority!
Claire reached up to her phone, tapping the screen once more to open a video playback application.
Claire: Do you remember last November, Ryan? The night you came home late after the board meeting?
Ryan: What does November have to do with anything?!
Claire: Look at the screen, Ryan. This is the feed from the dome cameras in the ceiling.
On the small high-definition screen, a video played clearly showing Ryan standing at the library desk holding a light box and tracing Claire's signature onto a series of thick white contracts.
Auditor 1: That is clear, unobstructed footage of forgery in the second degree, Mr. Vance.
Ryan: That video was recorded without my consent in a private residence!
Claire: The dome cameras were installed by my father for security purposes, Ryan. The consent clause was included in the house rules you signed when you moved in.
Ryan reached out, trying to grab the phone from Claire's hand, but Mr. Miller immediately stepped between them.
Auditor 1: I suggest you keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Vance. There are two state troopers waiting at the bottom of the driveway.
Ryan: State troopers?! For a civil financial dispute?!
Claire: Forgery, corporate embezzlement, and wire fraud are not civil disputes, Ryan. They are federal felonies.
Chloe began to cry loudly, leaning against the hallway wall as she pulled her coat around her shoulders.
Sister: Claire, please! Don't let them arrest me! I really didn't know about the stock transfers!
Claire: If you hand over your personal bank statements to Mr. Miller right now, Chloe, my legal team will ask the prosecutor for full immunity for you.
Sister: I will! I'll give you everything! My tablet is upstairs in the guest room!
Ryan: Chloe, don't you dare give them those files!
Sister: Get away from me, Ryan! You ruined my life just to save your own skin!
Chloe turned and ran up the grand staircase, her heels clicking fast against the marble steps as she went to retrieve her digital records.
Ryan stood alone in the center of the hallway, his posture slumping as the reality of his situation pressed down on him.
Ryan: Claire... please. Think about our three years together. Think about everything we shared.
Claire: I am thinking about it, Ryan. I'm thinking about how every single day was built on a calculated lie.
Ryan: I loved you! I really did love you!
Claire: You loved my father's business, my family's social status, and the unlimited expense account you stole from my trust.
Ryan: What am I supposed to do now? I have nowhere to go!
Claire: That isn't my problem anymore, Ryan. You have ten minutes to pack one bag of personal clothes before the troopers escort you off the premises.
Ryan: One bag?! All my suits are in the master suite closet!
Claire: The clothes purchased with embezzled company funds have already been seized as evidence by the court receiver.
Ryan looked at the three auditors, then at Claire, realizing there was no escape left, no lie big enough to save him.