I pushed it back across the table. My voice was flat, without a ripple of emotion. "If anyone should be signing something, it's you two. I'm not the one with standing here."
Clay took that as defiance. His voice dropped to a register so low it practically vibrated with menace. "Dorothy, don't test me. Your mother was an unemployed old woman. She contributed nothing to this world. Evangeline is young. She has a brilliant career ahead of her. Are you really going to ruin her entire future over a dead woman?"
"Exactly!" Audrey piled on without missing a beat, her words dripping with cruelty. "Your mother was a waste of space, leeching off the Farley family. Evangeline did everyone a favor by getting rid of that burden. You should be grateful, not trying to shake us down. How thick can your skin possibly be?"
The guests around us chimed in, their whispered barbs flying like needles. Not a single one pierced me. I lifted my eyes and swept a cold gaze across the Farley siblings, enunciating every word.
"You've got it wrong. What I mean is, the person who died on the operating table was your mother. This pardon letter? You should be signing it for her."
Audrey exploded instantly, her voice shrill enough to crack glass. "Dorothy, have you lost your mind?! Cursing my mother at her own birthday banquet? You've gone insane with grief!"
Clay's face turned ashen. A vein at his temple throbbed violently, and he jabbed a finger at me, barely containing his fury. "Dorothy, I've been far too lenient with you all these years. That's clearly why you've become so brazen you've forgotten basic respect for your elders. My mother is the most important person in my life. No one disrespects her. Not even you. I don't care that you're my wife."
Rage had consumed him completely. He whipped around to the bodyguards behind him and barked, "Go in there and smash that memorial tablet to pieces. Drag the body out and dump it at Potter's Field! Let's see how her ungrateful daughter exploits the Farley family after that!"
The bodyguards hesitated. They looked at Clay, red-faced and seething, then at me, standing perfectly still. One of them spoke up cautiously. "Dr. Farley, that doesn't seem... I mean, with all due respect, the deceased..."