My darling girl,
If Victor throws this book away, pick it up. He always hated what he could not control. The account is real. So are the documents in the safe deposit box. Do not cry in front of them. Let the law do what I could not.

Diana opened the safe deposit box with two officers present.

Inside were property deeds, old letters, photographs, recordings on a flash drive, and a handwritten ledger. Every stolen rent payment. Every forged signature. Every threat my father had made to force Grandma out of her own assets.

At the bottom was one last envelope.

For Elise, when she is ready to stop being afraid.

I smiled for the first time that day.

My father had thrown a fortune into a grave because he believed I was too weak to bend down and retrieve it.

He had chosen the wrong woman.

Part 3

Three days later, my father summoned me to Grandma’s house.

He thought I had come to surrender.

Celeste sat on the velvet sofa, sipping tea from Grandma’s china. Mark leaned against the fireplace, tossing Grandma’s silver lighter into the air.

Father stood by the window like a king surveying conquered land.

“You’ve had your little bank adventure,” he said. “Now be sensible. Sign whatever they gave you over to me, and I might let you keep some furniture.”

I looked around the room Grandma had polished every Sunday—her curtains, her books, the scent of lemon soap still lingering.

“You broke into her house,” I said.

Father smiled. “My mother’s house.”

“No,” I said. “Mine.”