The heavy double mahogany doors at the end of the ballroom swung open, and an older gentleman in a grey tailored suit stepped into the hall holding a thick leather briefcase.
Thomas: Good evening, Victoria.
Victoria: Thomas?! What are you doing here? The estate reading isn't until eight o'clock!
Thomas: I moved the meeting up because my primary client finally arrived.
Victoria: Your primary client is me! I am Arthur's surviving widow!
Thomas: You were his widow, Victoria. But section four of Arthur's will specifically states that his entire estate, including the mansion, the real estate portfolio, and the corporate voting rights, belongs exclusively to his biological daughter, Clara Sterling.
Victoria: Clara died fifteen years ago! The court declared her legally dead!
Thomas: The court declared her dead based on a fraudulent police report filed by your personal driver, Victoria.
Victoria: That's a lie! I have the official death certificate in my safe!
Thomas: We ran a DNA test four days ago using the hair sample Clara provided. The match to Arthur Sterling's genetic record is ninety-nine point nine percent positive.
The crowd gasped again, many guests pulling out their phones to record the unfolding drama.
Guest 3: I knew Victoria was shady! She locked up the family estate the moment Arthur passed!
Guest 4: She built her whole fortune on a stolen inheritance!
Victoria: Thomas, I hired you! You work for me!
Thomas: I work for the Sterling estate, Victoria. And as of ten minutes ago, your authorization on all family bank accounts has been permanently revoked by the probate judge.
Victoria's hands began to shake uncontrollably as she looked around the room at the sneering faces of her wealthy peers.
Victoria: Revoked?! You can't freeze my accounts! I have a sixty-thousand-dollar catering bill to pay tonight!
Thomas: The catering company has already been notified. In fact, Clara herself paid the event staff out of her preliminary trust allowance this morning.
Clara: That's right, Victoria. I paid every server in this room five hundred dollars extra just to watch me take back what is mine.
Julian: Clara, please... we can sit down in private and talk about this like family.
Clara: We aren't family, Julian. When I was starving in foster homes, you were buying sports cars with my father's money.
Julian: I didn't know! She told me you died in the lake!
Clara: You didn't care to ask questions because the money was too sweet.
Victoria: This is a setup! You all set me up!
Victoria lunged forward again, her red fingernails reaching toward Clara's face, but two large security guards stepped into her path and caught her arms.
Guard 1: Stand down, ma'am!
Victoria: Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?!
Clara: You're a trespasser in my father's ballroom, Victoria. Guards, remove her from the building.
Victoria: You can't throw me out! This is my event!
Clara: This is my house. And I want the garbage taken out right now.