I never met my father growing up.

My mother said he'd gone far away. The kind of far away you don't come back from.

Later, when she got sick and ended up in the hospital, I dropped out of school to take care of her. I wanted to dip into our savings to pay for her treatment.

She threatened to kill herself over it. She forbade me from touching that money, she said. It was the dowry she'd set aside for me.

So I agreed to her face and went around her behind her back. I quietly tracked down her attending physician and told him the family had money, that I wanted the best drugs, the best surgeon money could buy.

"This kind of medical bill won't be small."

The doctor let out a long sigh.

"Your mother was my classmate in college. She married the golden boy of our class, even poured her entire fortune into funding his startup. By now he should be rich. Why don't you go find him?"

I let that sink in, but I said nothing to my mother about it.

I went back home and withdrew our hundred and fifty thousand in savings, then handed it over to the hospital account.

The doctor said it would keep her going for three months.

When my mother found out, she cried. "You foolish child. Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

While I cared for her, I started gathering everything I could find about the years my father and mother had built that company together.

When my father held the gala for his company's twentieth anniversary, I walked in with my evidence and my lawyer.

"I'm here to see my father. To get him to sign the divorce papers with my mother."

——

"Whose little girl is this?"

The words were barely out of my mouth when the hotel manager, hovering in a corner, called out loudly.

When no one answered, he pressed again. "If she doesn't belong to anyone here, I'll be calling security."

"You need to do something about the service in this hotel. Look at who's sitting here. How could any of us be connected to this girl?"

"Have security throw her out, now. This is the James Group's twentieth anniversary gala!"

The guests buzzed among themselves, most of them skeptical, contemptuous.

The hotel manager came toward me, sweat soaking through his shirt, still shouting for security. "Someone, get over here. Now!"

"Theo James! Twenty years ago you abandoned your wife and your daughter. In all these twenty years, hasn't your conscience hurt even once?"

These people said I didn't belong, said my clothes were rags. I didn't care.

I came here today to win justice for my mother, and to take back what was rightfully hers!

The room went dead silent. Theo James rose from the head table and started toward me.

But faster than him came his current son, Adam James.

Adam practically ran up to me, his fury on full display. "Which company sent you? You think I won't have you locked up right now?"

"Oh, I believe you. After all, only you James people could pull something this filthy and shameless!" I gave it right back to him, tooth for tooth.

Adam's hand flew up to slap me. Beside me, my lawyer friend, Bryan Finch, my college classmate, flipped on his phone camera.

"Everyone, come look. The eldest James heir is hitting people!"

The slap froze in midair. Bryan turned to him with a smile and explained.

"We came today with solid evidence. Call it a courtesy, a chance for the James Group. If Mr. James, or rather Chairman James, doesn't want to handle this, then we can go through the proper channels!"

"We're here to fulfill our duty to notify you. If Mr. James has the authority to speak for his father, then we'll turn around and leave."

Adam glared at us, like he wanted to eat us both alive.

"Funny. I don't recall ever gaining a wife. Or, for that matter, a daughter."

Theo James's steady voice cut through the room, and only then did Adam step aside.

Under the full weight of Theo James's pressure, Bryan turned to look at me.

I took a step forward, not the slightest intention of backing down.

Theo answered with a smile, and the crowd murmured their quiet admiration. He was exactly what they'd expected of the self-made mogul who'd built the James Group into a company worth over five billion dollars.

The words landed, and the color drained from Theo's face.

Beside me, Bryan looked anxious. I shook my head at him—it was nothing.

Realizing he'd let his composure slip, Theo quickly pulled his hands back and forced an easy laugh.

A few of the sharper guests had already sensed something was off. Adam waved over the hotel manager, leaned in and murmured a few words, and the manager hurried away.

Theo said nothing. Adam was about to keep going, but a well-dressed woman gliding toward us cut him off.

With that, the woman turned her amused gaze on me. After a moment, she spoke, her tone laced with mock pity.

That blend of warning and threat had the surrounding guests nodding in sudden understanding, and they turned on me and my mother one after another.

Bryan stepped forward right on cue, pulled out a stack of photocopied documents, and read aloud in a clear, steady voice.

Theo couldn't hold his refined, gentlemanly mask a second longer. With a furious roar he lunged forward, snatched the documents out of Bryan's hands, and tore them apart.

Seeing Theo lose his temper, I smiled, delighted.

Theo James drew a slow breath and swept his hand toward the room full of guests.

"Do you people have any idea who's in this room? Whatever your business is, couldn't you pick a more appropriate time for it?"

"And besides, there was never any daughter between Meryl Finch and me. If you're so broke you can't make rent, sit down and have a meal. I'll welcome you with open arms."

The moment he finished, the crowd around him broke into applause, praising what a big man Mr. James was.

Theo pressed both hands down, waiting for the noise to settle before he spoke again.

"Yes, Meryl Finch borrowed money from me back then. You must have caught wind of this little rumor through some other channel. Hand over the originals, and I'll keep them as a keepsake. A small memento of an old friend."

"This matter ends right here. Understood?"

I had to give it to him. Theo James handled the turn with practiced grace.

But I'd come fully prepared too.

"Mr. James, you might want to take a look at this video. After you've seen it, I think you'll remember a few things."

I pulled out my phone and turned the volume up as high as it would go.

In the video, the attending physician spoke calmly.

"Old classmate. Do you still recognize me? Nathaniel Whitney."

"It's not that I didn't want to keep your secret. I just couldn't stand by and watch this mother and daughter suffer. What you did went too far."

"I'll stake my entire medical career on it. This young woman is your daughter, Theo James."

When the video ended, Bryan produced a document right on cue.

"From the prenatal checkup at the hospital back then. Theo James signed it himself."

A wave of shock rippled through the room. Letitia Mason and Adam James started ushering the guests toward the door.

But some of the heavy hitters stayed. A good number of them were shareholders of the James Group.

His expression unreadable, Theo invited us to sit. "With Nathaniel Whitney's word, fine, you can count as my daughter. So tell me, where is Meryl Finch? Why didn't she come?"

"You're wrong about that."

I shook my head. "Legally and medically, yes, I'm your daughter. But in my heart, I'm not."

"I came here today for one thing only. To take back what belongs to my mother."

Theo raised a hand and beckoned Letitia over, a thread of suspicion in his voice.

"Didn't you tell me all that money was paid back to Meryl years ago? What exactly is going on here?"

Letitia nodded, the picture of confidence.

"Every cent was returned. If this really is Meryl Finch's daughter, then she's come here looking to start trouble, plain and simple."

"But it doesn't matter. If it's money you want, name your figure. I'll even cover the full amount Meryl loaned to James Technologies back then."

"I do have one condition, though. We'll hand this money over freely, as compensation. And from this day forward, I don't want any of you disturbing our family's life again."

I watched the shareholders' faces ease slightly, and threw the mockery right back.

"Ma'am, you say it was paid back. Show us the proof."

"As for this compensation of yours, I don't want it. I want only the share my mother is owed."

"There's something else I'd like everyone here to know. Theo James and my mother were legally married. And they never divorced."

"Which means, in the eyes of the law, this woman here is the one who came between them. The mistress, in plain English."

Theo James let out a long sigh. Letitia opened her mouth to say something, but a single glare from him forced the words back down.

The hall stayed silent for a long while before Theo spoke again, his voice heavy.

"Say it. How much money do you actually want?"

I looked to Bryan. He understood, nodded, and rose to his feet.

"Mr. James, on behalf of my client, I'm here to inform you that according to the agreement you made with Ms. Finch back then, eighteen percent of the James Group's shares belong to her."