Chapter 16 - FATHER AND DAUGHTERMy relationship with my father wasn't magically repaired.
Ten years of silence don't disappear because someone saves you.
We fought.
We argued.
We went to therapy.
We learned how to speak without shouting.
How to listen without defending ourselves.
One evening, Marcus sat on the floor while Lila crawled into his lap.
She grabbed his expensive tie.
He didn't care.
She pulled it.
Hard.
My father winced.
Then laughed.
I had never heard him laugh like that.
"Grandpa," Lila said.
"Yes, princess?"
"You're silly."
My father looked at me.
"She gets that from you."
I smiled.
"No. She gets it from you."
He kissed the top of her head.
And I realized something.
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My father hadn't just come back into my life.
He had come back into hers.
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Chapter 17 - THE EMPIRE I CHANGEDA year after Julian's conviction, I took over Hale Industries.
Chapter 18 - FIVE YEARS LATERFive years passed.
Chapter 19 - STRONG ENOUGHLila rested her head against my chest.
Chapter 20 - THE DOOR THAT REMAINED OPENYears later, I still kept one photograph from the night everything changed.
