Chapter 18
Grace joined the company as a summer intern at sixteen.
Not because I pushed.
Because she asked.
“I want to know what Grandpa built,” she said.
I gave her a badge.
A real job.
No special treatment.
She spent week one in inventory.
Week two in repairs.
Week three shadowing Lila.
By week four, she told me our youth branding was “tragically old.”
I told her she was fired.
She said nepotism protected her.
I said transparency defeated nepotism.
She laughed.
One evening, she stood below the sign.
Vale & Co.
“I don’t hate the name anymore,” she said.
My throat tightened.
“No?”
“No. It feels like ours now.”
Noah eventually designed a small star pendant for children affected by domestic violence, sold to fund legal aid.
Dominic asked if he could buy one.
Noah said yes.
Then added, “You can’t wear it like you earned it.”
Dominic nodded.
May you like
“I understand.”
And I believed he did.
