The security guards dragged Victoria down the grand marble staircase as she screamed and kicked, her expensive heels scraping against the steps.
The guests moved aside, taking videos and photos as the formerly powerful socialite was hauled toward the front entrance.
Victoria: Julian! Help me! Call our corporate lawyers!
Julian: Stepmother, stop fighting! You're making it ten times worse!
Victoria: You spineless coward! Do something!
Julian: I can't do anything! Thomas has the court order!
They reached the massive glass front doors of the mansion, where two city police cruisers were parked with their emergency lights flashing red and blue against the white stone pillars.
A police detective stepped out of the lead vehicle, holding a yellow warrant folder in his hand.
Detective: Victoria Sterling?
Victoria: Yes! Arrest these security guards! They assaulted me inside my own home!
Detective: Victoria Sterling, you are under arrest for child abandonment, grand probate fraud, and conspiracy to commit forgery.
Victoria: What?! Fraud?! This is a mistake!
Detective: Hands behind your back, ma'am.
The detective clicked the heavy steel handcuffs around Victoria's wrists, ignoring her sharp screams as he pushed her into the back seat of the police cruiser.
Clara walked out onto the front porch, holding a warm coat over her waitress apron as Thomas walked beside her.
Clara: Is her driver in custody too?
Thomas: Yes, he confessed two hours ago in exchange for a reduced sentence. He gave the police the original documents showing how she paid him to take you to the state shelter.
Clara: Fifteen years... she enjoyed my mother's life for fifteen years.
Thomas: She won't enjoy another day of it, Clara. The state prosecutor is seeking a minimum twelve-year sentence without parole.
Julian walked out onto the porch, looking at Clara with deep guilt and sadness in his eyes.
Julian: Clara... what happens to me now?
Clara: What do you mean, Julian?
Julian: The penthouse apartment downtown... the lease is under the family trust name.
Clara: You have twenty-four hours to pack your clothes and get out.
Julian: Twenty-four hours?! Clara, I have nowhere else to go! My sports car is registered to the trust too!
Clara: Then you'd better start learning how to take the public bus, Julian. Just like I did for fifteen years.
Julian: Please... give me a chance to make this right!
Clara: You had fifteen years to look for me, Julian. You never even checked the records. You just enjoyed the luxury.
Clara turned her back on her stepbrother, walking back inside the quiet mansion as the police cruisers pulled away down the long driveway with their sirens echoing into the night sky.