Tiffany: This is a bluff. You're making this up because you hate seeing me successful.
Martha: Open it, Tiffany. Read it out loud for your distinguished guests to hear.
Tiffany ripped the top of the heavy paper envelope, her fake nails tearing through the gold wax seal.
She pulled out a thick document along with a folded birthday card with a hand-painted sunflower on the front.
Greg: What does it say, Tiff?
Tiffany: It... it's just a bunch of legal jargon from Dad's old probate lawyer.
Martha: Turn to page three, paragraph four. Read the clause regarding the thirty-fifth birthday transfer.
Tiffany's eyes scanned down the page, her face rapidly losing every drop of color as she read the typed letters.
Tiffany: "In the event that the primary beneficiary displays severe moral turpitude, financial cruelty, or elder abandonment prior to the midnight of her thirty-fifth birthday..."
Her voice cracked, fading down to a breathless whisper as she stared at the official notary stamp at the bottom of the page.
Brenda: What does it say, Tiffany?! Read the rest!
Tiffany: "...the trustee retains full, unconditional authority to revoke all property deeds, corporate stock gifts, and inheritance shares, transferring them immediately to the Family Foundation."
A collective gasp rippled around the dining table as several guests pulled back from the table.
Greg: Wait... so she doesn't own the house? She doesn't own the stock shares?
Martha: She owned eighty percent of the temporary voting rights, Greg. The actual stock certificates remain held in my private safe deposit box at First National Bank.
Tiffany: Dad would never do this to me! He loved me! He worked his whole life so I could be rich!
Martha: Your father loved you more than life itself, Tiffany. But he saw the way you treated the staff at your college graduation. He saw the way you talked down to your cousins when you got your first promotion.
Tiffany: That was business! You have to be tough to survive in the corporate world!
Martha: Cruelty isn't toughness, Tiffany. It's weakness. And your father knew that if you were given total wealth without humility, you would destroy yourself and everyone around you.
Tiffany's hands began to shake as she dropped the document onto her plate, her red cheek burning brighter under her smear of makeup.
Tiffany: Mom... please. You wouldn't actually do this to me. I'm your only daughter!
Martha: You were my daughter when you called me a penniless old woman five minutes ago? You were my daughter when you ordered me to get out of your sight?
Tiffany: I was angry! You caught me off guard in front of my friends and my fiance!
Martha: You revealed who you really are when you thought I had no power to fight back.
Martha pointed a stern, unyielding finger toward the hallway, her posture straight and commanding under the dimming light of the dining room.
Martha: You can leave my house tonight, Tiffany. You have one hour to pack your personal clothes and get out of this building.