He nodded and handed her a file. “Your grandmother left you her thirty percent stake in Prestige Wardrobe.”
Sophia froze.
“She held these shares in her own name,” Peter continued. “Everything else—your mother’s assets—was transferred to your father after her passing. But this portion remained with Mrs. Knight. She specifically requested that you inherit it.”
Sophia’s fingers trembled as she took the file.
She had known her grandmother owned part of the company—but not how much. And she had never cared.
Mila was all she had left after her mother died. Now she was gone too.
Her vision blurred.
“Thank you,” she said softly, clutching the file to her chest.
But just as she took the file—
It was snatched from her hands.
Sophia’s head snapped up.
Her father stood in front of her.
Arthur King flipped through the documents quickly, his eyes lighting up as he read. Then he smiled—pleased.
“This is good,” he said. “Joseph and Curtis have been wanting more shares invested back into the business. With production slowing down and material shortages lately, this is exactly what we need.”
He looked at her approvingly. “Curtis said with this share, he can bring in more investors and expand the company.”
Sophia stared at her father.
Then at the file in his hand.
Then back at him.
“Dad,” she said quietly, “you already have everything. The business Mom left is entirely in your hands. You’re not lacking anything.”
“So what?” Curtis’s voice cut in sharply as he stepped forward, Joseph coming to stand beside him.
Arthur King stood between his two brothers. He was shorter than both of them, a thick mustache shadowing his upper lip, his face already hardened with irritation. Curtis and Joseph, taller and clean-shaven, stood confidently at his sides.
Arthur was the eldest. After Sophia’s mother died, he had clung to his brothers for support. He wanted to give Sophia a good life.
But somewhere along the way, business replaced fatherhood.
Work replaced presence.
Curtis and Joseph stayed by his side constantly, pushing him deeper into expansion plans, investments, meetings—convincing him they were helping. And as Arthur listened tothem more and more, Sophia slowly disappeared from his priorities.
With Curtis and Joseph constantly whispering about profits, growth, and control, things only grew worse.
Sophia still remembered when things were different.
When her father never missed her birthday.
When they were once a happy family of three.
Then her mother got cancer.
