The father I thought trusted me, the father who doted on me, had in the end surrendered to blood.
He'd forgotten that the patents were ones I'd developed with my own two hands, that the team was one I'd built piece by piece, that every client resource had been won by me, minute by grinding minute.
He'd forgotten that the Pruitt name stood among the very top tier because this daughter had clawed her way up to put it there.
Watching the way my father's eyes fixed on me, the thread of family feeling deep inside me loosened, inch by inch, going cold, going stiff.
I wanted to say,
"Dad, Irma doesn't understand a thing. She'll destroy Pruitt Group."
"I wanted to say, Dad, do you not love me anymore? You told me yourself I was your most brilliant daughter, that Pruitt Group would flourish in my hands."
But my mouth hung open, and in the end not a single word came out.
Seeing my silence, Alex Gilbert took it for refusal. He lunged forward, seized my hand, and flung it toward my father.
"Ida Pruitt, don't think I can't see what you're scheming. You just want to grab every Pruitt asset and grind Irma under your heel, don't you?"
"Today you're signing that transfer, or there's no telling how you'll bully Irma later on."
The broken blister on the back of my hand tore under the brutal yank, a pain that bored straight to the bone. I frowned and let out a stifled grunt.
What came next wasn't worry or care. It was a pen, jammed hard into my hand.
"Sign it. None of this was ever yours. What right do you have to seize what belongs to someone else?"
My eyes burned red, locked on Alex Gilbert. The same Alex who used to fetch medicine and bring me water, fretting over me the moment I so much as coughed. My former fiancé.
I didn't understand. Twenty years of feeling, and it had all been an act?
I hurled the pen straight at his face, anger spilling past anything I could hold back.
"Alex Gilbert, Pruitt business is none of yours. You're an outsider. What gives you the right to stand here and dictate to me? Crawl back to the Gilberts where you belong."
His face flushed crimson. He opened his mouth to snap back at me, but my father's voice cut in first, unhurried yet heavy with authority.
"Nina, I'd intended to treat you and Irma the same. You're both my daughters. The assets split down the middle, one half each."
"But you've disappointed us too deeply. To openly bully Irma like that. If Pruitt Group went into your hands, with your methods, wouldn't you keep her trampled beneath you forever?"
"Dad, I didn't, it was actually—"
"Enough, Ida Pruitt. You've disappointed me more than I can say. In the face of money, you've turned this vicious, this small."
"I've already watched the footage. It's plain as day, you're the one who shoved her down."
The tears spilled over all at once.
Looking at the venom in Alex Gilbert's eyes, at the grief and disillusionment on my parents' faces, I wiped the corners of my eyes and smiled.
"Fine. If you both think I want to steal from your daughter, then I'll sign. That's all."
I picked up the pen, scrawled my name in two or three quick strokes, and threw it at Alex Gilbert's face.
He snatched it up at once and held it out to Irma Finch, pulling her into his arms, elated.
"Irma, from now on you're the heir to Pruitt Group. No one will ever dare bully you again."
My parents watched the two of them clinging together with relief, their eyes brimming with indulgence.
I looked at that searing scene and slowly backed away.
So be it.
It had always belonged to the Pruitts. They'd raised me for twenty years. They'd done more than enough. It was right to give it back.
I, Ida Pruitt, had the ability to build Pruitt Group. I had the ability to build my own company too.
I turned, about to take my first step out, when Irma Finch's frail voice came from behind me.
"Sister, there's one more thing I need to trouble you with."
"Now that we've each returned to our rightful place, there's the childhood arranged marriage your mother set up for you back in Finch Village. They've accepted holiday gifts from us for twenty years. If I'm the one to call it off now, he'll never let it rest. He'll say the Pruitts look down on the poor and chase after the rich."
"Sister, marry him in my place."
