My 12 percent ownership was the final barrier preventing Grant from taking complete control, which explained why my parents chose my hospital room to pressure me. They valued my shares at barely one-fifth of what an outside buyer had offered and promised a “modest allowance” if I cooperated. I told them to leave, but my mother insisted I had no authority to give orders. At that moment, the door opened and Elias entered with a hospital administrator and two lawyers. He kissed my forehead, touched Noah’s cheek, and faced my stunned parents. “You were saying something about my child being fatherless,” he said—and my mother’s face suddenly lost all color.
