I looked at the people who had once abandoned me like garbage and now sat begging for a lifeline.
“Why come to me?” I asked quietly.
“Because you’re family,” Linda said.
That word hit harder than I expected.
I forced a bitter smile. “Family? You made it very clear I wasn’t part of yours.”
Tom shifted uncomfortably, his pride cracking for the first time. “We made mistakes,” he said. “I wasn’t ready to raise another man’s kid. But you’ve done well for yourself. Maybe… maybe you can show some forgiveness.”
Forgiveness. The word echoed through my mind like thunder.
I could have told them to leave. I could have called security. But instead, I stood up and said, “Meet me tomorrow morning. There’s something I want to show you.”
The next day, I picked them up in my Tesla and drove them to a construction site on the city’s west end—a massive warehouse project my company had been building for months.
“This is the future headquarters of Northline Freight,” I said. “We’re expanding nationwide.”
Linda smiled weakly. “It’s beautiful.”
I nodded toward a section of the building.
