On opening day, Aria stood onstage with a drum. Maya held a new flute. Sofia squeezed Michael’s hand.
“We did it,” he murmured.
“We’re just starting,” she replied.
Weeks later, on a quiet Monday morning, Aria and Maya stood in new school uniforms, backpacks ready.
“You’re not going to leave again, right?” Maya asked softly.
Michael tightened his grip on their hands.
“Never,” he said. “I will never let go again.”
He watched them run toward their classmates, laughing freely. He had no empire now. No driver. No endless meetings.
But as he turned back toward home—where Sofia waited with coffee—Michael Reed understood something at last.
He had never been richer.
