Grandmother: Ethan, drop that trash right now! Have you lost your mind in front of your aunts and uncles?
Ethan: I said, no one leaves this house alive.
Uncle Richard: Ethan, calm down! Your grandmother was just maintaining order in the estate. The girl broke contract rules by bringing a child here!
Ethan: She didn't break any rules, Richard. She belongs here more than any of you leeching monsters ever will.
Clara: Ethan... my head hurts so much... they took my shoes...
Ethan held Clara tighter, feeling how thin and frail her body had become over the last nine months. Her bare feet were bruised, and her black uniform dress was torn at the shoulder. He looked down at the tiny baby wrapped in a faded blue blanket, who was whimpering quietly against Clara's chest.
Ethan: Shh, Clara. I’ve got you. Daddy’s got both of you now.
Grandmother: Daddy?! What kind of sick joke is this?! You are the heir to a multi-billion-dollar real estate trust fund!
Ethan: It’s no joke, Evelyn. This baby is a Vance. My daughter. My biological child and sole heir to the entire estate.
A collective gasp rippled through the black-clad relatives. Aunt Beatrice dropped her champagne glass, the crystal shattering across the white marble near Ethan’s polished shoes. Evelyn Vance gripped her walking cane so hard her knuckles turned bone white, her cold demeanor cracking for the first time.
Beatrice: A... a Vance? With a house maid?!
Uncle Richard: This is absurd! You disappeared for six months last year, Ethan! You said you were managing the European acquisitions!
Ethan: I was hiding Clara in the cottage because I knew what this evil old woman would do if she found out Clara was carrying my child!
Grandmother: You dared to breed with the domestic help?! You ruined our bloodline for a gutter girl!
Ethan: Clara is worth ten of you. She gave me a real family while all of you were plotting how to divide my late father’s inheritance!
Clara: Ethan... your grandmother... she came to the cottage yesterday... she had men take me...
Ethan: What did you say?
Ethan’s eyes snapped back to Evelyn, his breathing growing dangerously slow. Clara rested her bloodied chin on his shoulder, tears running down her pale cheeks as she struggled to keep her eyes open from exhaustion and pain.
Clara: She sent two guards... they dragged me into a van... they told me if I ever spoke your name again, they’d throw my baby in the river...
Grandmother: Silence, you lying little rat!
Ethan: Shut your mouth, Evelyn! Let her speak!
Clara: They locked me in the basement storage room under the mansion last night... I had to break a window to crawl out and bring the baby to you...
Ethan turned his head slowly, looking at the two security guards standing near the grand double doors. The guards flinched, stepping back under the weight of his terrifying gaze.
Ethan: You two locked my wife and infant daughter in a dark cellar?
Guard 1: Mr. Vance... we were just taking orders from Mrs. Vance! She told us the girl was a trespasser!
Ethan: You have five seconds to lock those front doors and hand me the keys, or I will make sure neither of you ever sees daylight again.