Vance to their vehicle now,” he said.

“And if either of them attempts to contact my fiancee, or to enter this facility again, have them arrested for trespassing.” Two uniformed guards stepped into the room and placed firm hands on my parents’ shoulders.

My father looked at me with a hollow, broken expression, understanding, in that final second, that the quiet daughter he had dismissed for twenty-eight years held the entire fate of his legacy in her hands.

And my mother began to weep, loudly, as the guards led them out, her frantic pleas fading down the corridor into silence.