Clara: Your... your daughter? You're out of your mind!
Richard: I'm not out of my mind, Clara. Chloe is my biological child from before I ever met you!
Clara: You lied to me for fifteen years? You brought an outsider into our home?
Richard: I hid her to protect her from you! Because I knew what kind of venomous monster you really are!
Down in the foyer, Chloe groaned softly, trying to sit up against the base of the staircase while holding her bruised arm. Richard turned back toward the steps, rushing down to support his daughter's back with gentle care.
Chloe: Dad... the folder... the papers are under the table...
Richard: Forget the papers right now, Chloe. You need a hospital.
Chloe: No... you need to see them... she tried to take them from me before she pushed me...
Richard looked over at the side table near the front entrance, where a thick brown envelope had fallen during the struggle. Clara, sitting up on the stairs, saw the envelope too, and her eyes filled with desperate panic.
Clara: Don't touch that, Richard! That's private estate documentation!
Richard: Private estate documentation? Why did Chloe have my trust fund paperwork?
Clara: She stole it from my private desk upstairs while the guests were arriving!
Chloe: I didn't steal anything! Your lawyer, Mr. Vance, gave it to me this morning!
Richard: Mr. Vance? What is Vance doing handing out family estate files?
Richard reached over, picking up the unsealed envelope from the marble floor. He pulled out three crisp pages bearing the red wax seal of his family's legal firm. As his eyes scanned the first paragraph, his face turned ash white.
Richard: Clara... what is your signature doing on an unauthorized transfer of the Dallas property?
Clara: It... it's a legal safeguard! To protect our assets from external claims!
Richard: You tried to transfer fifty percent of the Sterling mansion into your personal shell company behind my back!
Clara: I built this life with you, Richard! I deserve to be protected if you suddenly decide to bring illegitimate children into the picture!
Richard: You forged my name on a property deed, Clara! That isn't a safeguard, that's felony fraud!