The Price of Stealing from the Quiet Daughter of a Powerful Empire
The man who had tried to make me feel insane was now trapped in a reality of his own making.
I sat in my father’s corner office on the top floor of the Hartwell Civic Group.
The morning sun cast long shadows across the polished oak floor.
A thick stack of legal documents lay before me.
My father’s lead attorney, a sharp-eyed woman named Margaret, pointed to the signature line.
“These are the final filings for the divorce and custody,” Margaret said.
I picked up the heavy silver pen.
“I want to make a change before we submit them,” I said.
Margaret tilted her head. “What kind of change?”
“I want to formally reclaim my name,” I said.
“Evelyn Rose Hartwell.”
“And I want Maisie’s surname changed to Hartwell as well.”
My father, sitting in the leather chair near the window, smiled softly.
“It will be done,” he said.
I signed the papers, feeling the weight of the last two years slip away.
But I knew reclaiming my identity was only the first step.
“There is something else,” I said, looking at my father.