I turned eighteen on a Tuesday.simo No cake. No card. Not even a half-hearted “happy birthday.” Just my father sitting at the kitchen table, his wife stirring sugar into her mug, and my stepbrother leaning back in his chair with that look people get when they already know how the story ends

He smiled for the first time.

“Now you have thirty days.”

“To do what?”

“Survive.”

“And after thirty days?”

Richard closed his briefcase.

“You meet the board of Brooks Holdings.”

I blinked.

“The board?”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“You decide whether you want the company.”

I stared at him.

“I thought I inherited everything.”

“You inherited the right to choose.”

He turned toward the alley entrance.

“But there’s one more thing you should know.”

I stood there silently.

Richard looked back at me.

“Your father doesn’t know we’ve found you.”

A cold feeling spread through my chest.

“Then who does?”

Richard gave me a thin smile.

“Everyone who matters.”

He walked away.

I remained beside my broken-down car, holding a flash drive worth more than anything I’d ever owned.

For the first time in nine days, I wasn’t thinking about food.

I wasn’t thinking about where I would sleep.