Reese nodded, her eyes filled with gratitude as she looked at Matthew. If it hadn''t been for him, Nathaniel might still be out there. She might never have gotten the chance to finally get justice for her mother.


    Right then, her phone buzzed. Hank''s name lit up the screen. She answered, and his voice came through, sounding both anxious and exhausted.


    "Reese, do you have a minute?"


    She arched an eyebrow. "What''s up?"


    He must have caught the coolness in her voice, because he rushed to exin, "It''s nothing bad. It''s just... before Dad passed, he made sure to leave you some shares. Thepany needs to update the records, and you have to sign in person."


    Reese''s grip on her phone tightened. She hadn''t expected that. All this time, Bailey had only ever tried to use her or keep her at arm''s length, even scheming to take away what her mother had left behind. Now, at the end, he was actually leaving her something? And Hank was really calling about it, not some favor?


    She''d thought maybe he was going to ask her for help with the de project, since he''d helped expose Nathaniel. The Meyer family had been struggling for years, and de was just about theirst shotat survival. She never imagined he''d actually follow through on Bailey''sst wishes and offer her the shares.


    Reese stayed quiet for a long moment. Hank seemed to sense what she was thinking.


    "Don''t overthink it," he said. "You''re my sister, and Dad and I, we owe you. I just want to give you what you deserve. This isn''t about asking for anything in return. Dad already made a connection with the Ratcliff family through Joseph, and Joseph promised to help us get themercial rights. We signed an agreement and everything. From now on, we''ll just deal directly with him. know you don''t want to be tied I to the Meyer family anymore, so this is really just about the shares. Juste in, sign the paperwork, and you can go. If you don''t want them, if you''d rather cut ties, I''ll buy them back at market price. You know the Meyer family doesn''t have a lot of cash on hand, but I''ll pay you back over time, with interest..."


    Reese frowned. "ckOak and Ratcliff Global developed de together. Sebastian made the final call, sure, and Ratcliff Global will get their share, but that doesn''t mean they own the whole thing. Joseph can''t just decide who gets the rights. de was Matthew''s and my project. Sebastian just funded it. Even he couldn''t hand over the partnership without our say-so, and Joseph definitely can''t. You and Bailey have both been yed."


    Hank went silent. She could hear him scrambling for paperwork, flipping through it in


    a panic. Reese listened to the sound of pages turning, knowing he probably wasn''t


    in the mood to talk about shares anymore.


    She was about to hang up when she heard him suddenly gasp, shock clear even through the phone.