On my way home for Thanksgiving, I crashed and needed emergency surgery for broken ribs and internal bleeding. My parents told the doctor, “we’ll come if she dies.”

Inside Arthur's warm study, surrounded by wall-to-wall bookshelves and a roaring fireplace, the four of us—myself, David, Arthur, and Marcus—sat down to plan our final strike against Harold Pierce.

Arthur poured hot tea and handed me a warm blanket. "When your father Daniel died," Arthur explained, "Harold was his chief financial officer. Daniel trusted him implicitly. But Harold was greedy. He conspired with Victoria—who was Daniel's ambitious personal assistant at the time—to alter Daniel's will and seize control of Vance Tech."

"Victoria isn't even my biological mother?" I asked, shocked.

"No," Arthur said gently. "Your biological mother was Eleanor Vance, Daniel's wife. She died of heart failure shortly after you were born. When Daniel was killed, Harold and Victoria legally adopted you purely to maintain total control over the Vance estate until you turned twenty-five—which is when the original trust was set to mature."

"My twenty-fifth birthday is in two weeks," I realized.

"Exactly," Marcus chimed in, spreading financial documents across the table. "If you turn twenty-five without making a claim, the original trust terms expire, and the assets permanently merge into Pierce Enterprises. Harold knew he was running out of time. That's why he didn't care if you survived the crash—if you died, the trust assets would automatically default to him as your surviving legal guardian."

David slammed his fist on the table. "That monster let you lie on a highway freezing to death because it served his bottom line!"

"He won't get away with it," I said, my voice surprising even myself with its cold strength. "What do we need to do?"

Arthur smiled—a razor-sharp, lethal smile. "Pierce Enterprises is hosting its annual Shareholders' Gala in two days in downtown Chicago. Harold intends to announce a multi-billion-dollar merger with a European conglomerate. He thinks you are hidden away, David is dead, and I am powerless."