The words did not land all at once.
They sank in slowly.
Too slowly.
Like my mind was trying to protect me from understanding them properly.
“Take control…?” I repeated.
My voice didn’t sound like mine.
Victoria nodded once.
“Yes.”
A hollow feeling opened in my chest.
“Control of what?” I asked, even though I already knew.
My mother answered.
“Everything tied to your name.”
My stomach dropped.
“No,” I said immediately. “They can’t just—no. That’s not how it works.”
But even as I said it, doubt crept in.
Because I had trusted them.
Signed things without reading every line.
Let Daniel “handle” things.
Let my father “guide” me.
Let Amelia sit in rooms she never should have been in.
Victoria stepped closer, her voice calm but precise.
“They cannot take it permanently witho
