Evelyn: You cannot evict me from my family home with a piece of paper, Austin!
Austin: This paper was signed by a district judge at eight o'clock this morning.
Evelyn: On what legal grounds?! I am the matriarch of this household!
Austin: On grounds of systemic elder fraud, corporate forgery, and domestic battery.
Evelyn: Battery?! I barely touched her hair! She is exaggerating for sympathy!
Austin: You ripped clumps of hair from her scalp, Evelyn! Look at the copper basin!
Several strands of dark brown hair floated across the murky soapy water on the floor.
Austin's knuckles turned white as he stared at the basin, his chest heaving with fury.
Austin: You treated my wife like a medieval slave in front of the entire household.
Evelyn: The household staff knows who writes their weekly checks!
Austin: The household staff called my private cell phone forty minutes ago, Evelyn.
Evelyn: Which one of those ungrateful traitors called you behind my back?!
Austin: Rosa called me in tears. She told me you locked Claire in this parlor three hours ago.
Evelyn: Rosa is fired! I will have her bags thrown onto the street by noon!
Austin: Rosa works for me, Evelyn. You don't have the authority to fire a single blade of grass.
Claire: Austin... She took the ultrasound pictures... She tore them up...
Austin looked down at the Persian rug near the fireplace hearth.
Torn black-and-white thermal prints of their unborn daughter lay scattered in the ashes.
A fresh wave of sickening disgust washed over Austin's face as he stared at the shredded photos.
Austin: You tore up the ultrasound pictures of your own granddaughter?
Evelyn: That child is a bastard born to steal my late husband's legacy!
Austin: We were married at the city clerk's office nine months ago, Evelyn!
Evelyn: A secret courthouse wedding with zero prenup! That is not a legal marriage!
Austin: It is one hundred percent legal under Texas law, and Claire is my sole surviving heir.
Evelyn: Over my dead body! I will contest every line in probate court!
Austin: You won't contest anything, because you don't have standing anymore.
Austin unfolded the court document, holding the stamped red seal inches from Evelyn's nose.
Austin: Read clause seven of my father's original last will and testament.
Evelyn: I know what the will says! It gives me a life estate in this mansion!
Austin: 'The life estate of Evelyn Vance shall terminate immediately upon any proven act of moral turpitude or domestic abuse against Austin Vance or his lawful descendants.'
Evelyn's jaw dropped open, her eyes darting across the black typewriter font on the page.
Evelyn: That clause was added by your uncle! It is not valid!
Austin: It was signed by my father three days before his heart attack in Houston.
Evelyn: He was medicated! He didn't know what he was signing in that hospital bed!
Austin: He knew exactly what you were, Evelyn. He spent thirty years watching you destroy everyone around you.
Claire: Austin... The baby is kicking so hard... It hurts...
Austin: Hang on, my love. Dr. Harrison just pulled up outside.
Gravel crunched on the circular driveway as a white medical sedan sped toward the portico.
Austin stroked Claire's hair, whispering soft reassurances as sirens began to wail in the distance.
Evelyn's eyes snapped toward the front windows, her painted lips parting in sudden dread.
Evelyn: Why are there sirens coming up the private lane, Austin?
Austin: Did you honestly think I wouldn't call the sheriff after what Rosa told me?
Evelyn: You called the police on your own mother?! For a family argument?!
Austin: I called the police for aggravated felony assault on a pregnant woman, Evelyn.