Lady Genevieve: You insolent little liar! Search her!
Guardsman Thomas: My Lady, she's bleeding into the snow...
Lady Genevieve: I don't care if she's freezing! Search her pockets right now!
Guardsman Thomas stepped forward hesitatingly, looking down at Clara's shivering frame.
Clara: Don't touch me, Thomas. You know what my father meant to this town before he died.
Guardsman Thomas: Miss Clara... is it true? Is there a second will?
Lady Genevieve: Thomas, do your job or I'll have you thrown off this property before sunset!
Guardsman Thomas: Forgive me, My Lady, but Lord Richard's estate was supposed to be settled six months ago.
Lady Genevieve: I am the sole heir! I signed the probate documents myself!
Clara: You signed fraudulent documents while my father was unconscious in the hospital!
Lady Genevieve: Keep your mouth shut!
Lady Genevieve raised her arm to strike Clara again, but Thomas stepped between them, taking the blow across his leather shoulder armor.
Lady Genevieve: How dare you protect a servant over your mistress?!
Guardsman Thomas: She isn't just a servant, Lady Genevieve. She is Lord Richard's legitimate daughter.
Lady Genevieve: She is the child of a maid! She has no right to this mansion or the family fortune!
Clara: My mother was his lawful wife! You destroyed their marriage certificate after the accident!
Lady Genevieve: You have no proof of that! None!
Clara slowly pulled herself up from the ice, her body trembling with cold and pain as she leaned against the stone fountain in the center of the courtyard.
Clara: I don't need the certificate, Genevieve. The ring opens the master box in the downtown bank vault.
Lady Genevieve: What box?
Clara: The box my father set up with his divorce lawyer ten years ago.
Lady Genevieve: He never mentioned a bank vault to me!
Clara: Because he knew you were draining his trust fund to pay off your brother's gambling debts!
Lady Genevieve's face turned pale under her heavy makeup, her gloved fingers tightening around the silver handle of the whip.
Lady Genevieve: You're bluffing. You were twelve years old when he died. You know nothing about his finances.
Clara: I know that the ruby in your tiara was bought with money meant for my tuition.
Lady Genevieve: That tiara was a gift from your father!
Clara: It was bought off the company credit line three weeks before he passed away!
The iron gates at the edge of the snowy estate suddenly creaked open, and two heavy black carriages pulled up the long stone driveway.
Guardsman Thomas: Someone is arriving at the front entrance, My Lady.
Lady Genevieve: Send them away! The castle is closed to visitors today!
Clara: You can't send them away, Genevieve. I invited them.
Lady Genevieve: You invited who?! You don't have access to the phone lines!
Clara: Thomas gave me his radio last night while you were sleeping off your wine.
Lady Genevieve turned on Thomas with pure fury in her eyes.
Lady Genevieve: Traitor! I paid you double your salary to keep her locked in the east wing!
Guardsman Thomas: Lord Richard paid for my daughter's heart surgery ten years ago, Lady Genevieve. My loyalty was never for sale to you.
A tall man in a dark wool coat stepped out of the first carriage, carrying a leather briefcase under his arm as he walked across the crunching snow.
Lawyer Sterling: Good afternoon, Lady Genevieve. I suggest you put that whip down before the sheriff sees it.
Lady Genevieve: Lawyer Sterling... what is the meaning of this intrusion?
Lawyer Sterling: I am here on behalf of the High Court of the Probate Division, ma'am. We are executing an emergency freeze on the entire Sterling estate.