Mark: Take a deep breath, Lily. Daddy's right here.
Lily: She... she was yelling at me, Daddy.
Mark: I know, sweetie. Nobody is ever going to scream at you in this house again.
Clara: Mr. Sterling, please! You don't understand what happened!
Mark: Keep your mouth shut, Clara. Don't say another word to me.
Clara: She was going into your private study! She knows she isn't allowed in there!
Lily: I wasn't doing anything bad, Daddy! I promise!
I wiped the tears from Lily's cheeks and looked down at her backpack. A thick white envelope was sticking halfway out of the side pocket.
Mark: Lily, what is this in your bag?
Lily: She put it in there! Clara put it in my bag when you were coming down the stairs!
Clara: That is a complete lie! She took that out of your desk drawer, Mr. Sterling!
Mark: Silence!
I reached down and pulled the envelope out of the backpack. It wasn't sealed, and when I pulled the top open, my heart sank.
Mark: These are the trust fund documents for Lily's inheritance.
Clara: See? I told you! She was playing with your important papers!
Mark: A six-year-old child doesn't know how to unlock a combination safe, Clara.
Clara went quiet, her eyes darting toward the front door.
Mark: The only people who have the combination to that safe are me, my wife, and the head of house management.
Clara: Well... maybe you left it unlocked this morning!
Mark: I haven't opened that safe in three months.
My wife, Eleanor, came rushing down the hallway, her heels clicking against the marble floor as she heard the commotion.
Eleanor: What is going on out here? I heard screaming all the way from the kitchen!
Lily: Mommy!
Lily ran over to Eleanor, burying her face in her mother's dress.
Eleanor: Oh, baby, why are you crying? Mark, what happened?
Mark: I caught Clara screaming in Lily's face. And then I found the family trust fund papers in Lily's backpack.
Eleanor: What? How did those get out of the study?
Mark: Clara claims Lily took them out of the safe.
Eleanor: That's ridiculous. Lily can't even reach the top shelf where the safe is located, let alone open it.
Clara: Mrs. Sterling, I swear I was just trying to protect your property! The little girl was wandering around where she shouldn't be!
Eleanor: Don't talk about my daughter like she's a intruder in her own home, Clara!
Mark: Look at the back of these papers, Eleanor. There's a signature on the transfer line.
Eleanor took the papers from my hand and scanned the bottom page, her face going pale.
Eleanor: This... this isn't your signature, Mark. But it looks just like it.
Mark: Someone spent a lot of time forging my name. They were getting ready to transfer five million dollars out of Lily's trust account.
Clara: I don't know anything about signatures! I just clean the house!
Mark: You clean the house, but you somehow know what's inside my private study safe?
Clara backed up against the marble staircase, her hands shaking as she held her bruised cheek.
Clara: I want to leave. You hit me, and I'm going to call the police!
Mark: Go ahead. Call them. Because while they're here for the assault claim, they can investigate the five-million-dollar fraud attempt happening in my foyer.
Clara froze, her phone halfway out of her apron pocket.
Eleanor: Mark, look at Clara's pocket. There's a red velvet pouch sticking out.
I stepped closer to Clara, reaching out my hand.
Mark: Empty your pockets. Right now.