Ethan: The piano bench?
Victoria: Don't you dare touch my piano! That instrument was a wedding gift from my family!
Ethan: Stand back, Victoria!
Ethan walked firmly over to the polished black grand piano, lifting the heavy wooden bench lid.
Inside, resting right on top of the sheet music, was a thick black leather notebook tied with a red ribbon.
Victoria: Put that back! That's my personal journal!
Ethan: You told me you didn't keep any personal documents in the living room, Victoria.
Clara: Open page fourteen, Mr. Ethan. The section labeled 'Estate Liquidation.'
Ethan untied the red ribbon with trembling fingers, flipping the pages until his eyes landed on page fourteen.
His face drained of all color as he read the handwritten entries, his chest heaving with rising anger.
Ethan: What... what is the meaning of this, Victoria?!
Victoria: It's nothing! It's just financial planning notes!
Ethan: Financial planning?! These are bank account transfer codes for my late wife's life insurance trust fund!
Lily: My mommy's fund?
Ethan: Yes, sweetie... your mother's legacy fund for your college and medical care.
Clara: She has been wire-transferring fifty thousand dollars every month into a shell account in the Cayman Islands.
Victoria: You lying bitch! How do you know about those accounts?!
Clara: Because I am a certified forensic accountant, Victoria.
Victoria froze, her jaw dropping as she stared at the woman in the blue maid uniform.
Victoria: A... a what?!
Clara: Mr. Charles Vance suspected two years ago that someone was embezzling money from his granddaughter's trust fund.
Ethan: My father hired you to audit the penthouse accounts from the inside?
Clara: Yes, Mr. Ethan. He knew if he sent formal corporate auditors, Victoria would hide the paper trail.
Victoria: This is illegal wiretapping! This is corporate espionage!
Clara: Auditing an estate with the primary owner's permission is completely legal, Victoria.
Ethan: You stole six hundred thousand dollars from my daughter's trust fund over the last twelve months?!
Victoria: Ethan, listen to me! I needed that money to save my father's real estate business from foreclosure!
Ethan: You stole from a seven-year-old child to save your father's failing business?!
Victoria: I was going to pay it back once our investments matured! I swear!
Ethan: You were never going to pay it back! Look at these notes—you were planning to transfer the remaining two million dollars next week!
Victoria's hands began to shake as she backed up toward the living room entrance.
Victoria: I deserve that money! I've been stuck in this penthouse taking care of a child that isn't even mine!
Ethan: You didn't take care of her! You threw her across the room today because she almost found where you hid the bank keys!
Clara: That's why she attacked Lily, Mr. Ethan. Lily was playing near the display case where the physical token key was kept.