Lady Genevieve: An emergency freeze?! On whose authority?
Lawyer Sterling: On the authority of the original trust agreement signed by the late Lord Richard Vance.
Lady Genevieve: That agreement was superseded by the secondary will I filed last spring!
Lawyer Sterling: The court has reviewed that secondary will, Lady Genevieve. Forensic handwriting analysts confirmed yesterday that your late husband's signature was forged.
Lady Genevieve stepped back into the snow, her heel catching on an ice patch as her breath caught in her throat.
Lady Genevieve: That's absurd! I watched him sign it in the presence of two witnesses!
Lawyer Sterling: Both of those witnesses were employees of your brother's offshore holding company. They have already been detained for questioning by the state police.
A second man stepped out of the second carriage—a broad-shouldered man wearing a silver star badge pinned to his heavy winter coat.
Sheriff Miller: Afternoon, Genevieve.
Lady Genevieve: Sheriff... tell this lawyer to step off my private property immediately!
Sheriff Miller: I can't do that, ma'am. I'm the one who escorted him here to serve the warrant.
Lady Genevieve: Warrant for what?! I am the lady of this castle!
Sheriff Miller: Warrant for grand larceny, forgery, and physical assault against a minor beneficiary.
Sheriff Miller looked over at Clara, who was still leaning weakly against the stone fountain, blood dripping from her lip onto her torn blue dress.
Sheriff Miller: Jesus, Clara... did she hit you with that whip?
Clara: She struck me three times across the back, Sheriff. And she slapped me across the face when I refused to hand over the family ring.
Lady Genevieve: She stole that ring out of my jewelry box this morning!
Lawyer Sterling: That ring never belonged in your jewelry box, Lady Genevieve. It was specifically designated as Clara's inheritance upon her eighteenth birthday.
Lady Genevieve: She turned eighteen today... and she is still a servant in this household!
Clara: I was only a servant because you threatened to cut off my mother's pension fund if I left!
Lady Genevieve: You ungrateful brat! We gave you a roof over your head!
Clara: You kept me locked in the unheated attic for three years while you lived in luxury off my father's life insurance payout!
Sheriff Miller walked over to Lady Genevieve, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of steel handcuffs.
Sheriff Miller: Put the whip on the ground, Genevieve. Right now.
Lady Genevieve: Don't you dare touch me! My brother is the district representative!
Sheriff Miller: Your brother was arrested at his office in the city two hours ago for wire fraud and tax evasion.
Lady Genevieve gasped, dropping the leather whip into the snow as her knees trembled violently.
Lady Genevieve: My... my brother was arrested?
Sheriff Miller: His entire firm is being raided right now. The state prosecutor opened a full investigation into every transaction linked to Lord Richard's trust fund.
Lawyer Sterling: We found the missing five million dollars, Genevieve. It was transferred into a Swiss account under your maiden name three days after the funeral.
Lady Genevieve: I was managing the family business! I needed liquidity for the estate tax!
Lawyer Sterling: The estate tax was paid by the insurance policy. The five million was used to purchase a yacht in Miami and pay off three foreign gambling liens.
Sheriff Miller grabbed Lady Genevieve's wrists, clicking the cold steel cuffs securely around her hands.
Lady Genevieve: Get your hands off me! Clara, tell them to stop this! We can make a deal!
Clara: The time for deals ended the moment you raised that whip against me.