I turned eighteen on a Tuesday. No cake. No card. Not even a half-hearted “happy birthday.” Just my father sitting at the kitchen table, his wife stirring sugar into her mug, and my stepbrother leaning back in his chair with that look people get when they already know how the story ends.

finding.

But the truth was worse.

Someone had made sure I believed I wasn’t worth finding.

My father.

I swallowed hard.

“So what’s the condition?”

Richard took a deep breath.

“Your grandfather didn’t want you to simply inherit his fortune.”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted you to understand what you were inheriting.”

I frowned.

Richard handed me another document.

It was the final page of the will.

I read the first paragraph.

Then the second.

Then the third.

My heart began racing.

“What does this mean?”

Richard pointed to a sentence.

“Your grandfather left you the estate on one condition.”

I read it again.

Nathan Brooks must not return to the family home for thirty days.

I looked up.

“That’s it?”

“No.”