Dad…?”
Her voice barely came out.
For three years, her mother had told her the same painful truth:
Your father died before you were born.
The man slowly walked forward.
His eyes never left Arya.
Maxwell took a step back.
“You…” Maxwell whispered.
“No,” he said nervously. “You disappeared.”
The man’s face hardened.
“I was made to disappear.”
The room fell silent.
Arya looked from one face to the other.
“What’s happening?”
The man knelt before her.
His eyes were wet.
“Your mother never abandoned you, Arya.”
He pulled a folded document from inside his coat and handed it to Maxwell.
Maxwell unfolded it.
Then his hands started shaking again.
Because written across the top in bold letters were words that changed everything:
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP
Underneath it:
New majority owner of Grant National Bank — Arya Bennett.
Maxwell looked up slowly.
Arya blinked.
“What does that mean?”
The man smiled through tears.
“It means,” he said softly,
“You walked into your own bank today.”
