Chapter 3
The turning point came on Nina's twenty-second birthday.
Nina didn't tell anyone it was her birthday. She bought herself a small cake, stuck a single candle in it, and sang herself a birthday song in her rented apartment.
Halfway through the song, her phone rang.
It was Emily. "Nina, why don't you move back home next week? Yvonne says she's worried about you being out there all by yourself."
Nina glanced at the cake sitting all by itself on the table. "Mom, today's my birthday."
There was a brief pause, then Emily said, "I've been so busy with Yvonne's art exhibition these days, I completely forgot about your birthday. Yvonne's been learning oil painting lately, and her work is really impressive. You should come back and see for yourself."
Nina didn't say anything.
She listened as Emily talked endlessly about Yvonne's exhibition, the awards she'd recently won, and how her teacher kept saying she was gifted.
Fifteen minutes went by, and Emily never once said "Happy Birthday."
After the call ended, Nina ate her cake. It was strawberry-flavored. It was incredibly sweet.
After the last bite, she picked up her phone, opened her notes app, and deleted every reminder tagged "Family."
Emily's check-up day. A gift for Brian when he got back from his business trip. Good luck on Andrew's exam. A warning that Yvonne was allergic to peanuts.
Then she created a new note and wrote one sentence: [From now on, I am Nina. Not a Sherman. Not Yvonne's sister. Just Nina.]
She set her phone down on the table and stared out the window at Crownhill's night sky. The neon lights painted the sky a warm orange-red.
"If they won't treat you like family, then take back what's rightfully yours," Nina whispered to herself, each word drove into the silence.
"The Sherman fortune is rightfully partly yours. If you don't fight for your share, you'll end up with nothing."
Nina remembered how William gave Yvonne a share of the profits every year, how Emily bought Yvonne several properties, and how Brian let Yvonne collect a paycheck from the company for doing absolutely nothing.
She was the Shermans' biological daughter. Kidnapped for ten years. Abused for ten years. Then left to endure eight more years of emotional neglect after coming home.
She had nothing.
No. That wasn't true. She had something far more valuable. She had a double major in finance and management from Crownhill University's School of Business, and she had ranked first in her class every year.
She had taught herself financial analysis and corporate strategy in that rented room. She had written business plans for three startups and helped one of them secure Series A funding.
She had her mind. That was the one thing no one in the Sherman family could ever take from her.
The next day, Nina did two things.
First, she went to the bank to check on the Growth Compensation Fund the Shermans had set up for her back when she was brought home.
It was a trust account William had created at that time, with money deposited every month, and she could withdraw it all once she turned twenty-five. She was twenty-two now, and the account had already grown to nearly 700 thousand dollars.
This money was the only thing she could count on, legally.
Second, she called William. "Dad, I want to work at the Sherman Group."
There was a long silence on the other end.
"I majored in finance and management, so working at the company makes sense," Nina said, her voice calm, like she was reading the forecast. "I don't want an empty title. I want real power. I want to be the vice president."
William finally spoke, his tone scrutinizing. "Do you really understand what it means to be vice president at the Sherman Group?"
Nina replied, "I do. The Sherman Group is one of the top five companies in Crownhill, mainly dealing in real estate and retail, with annual revenue of around 2.6 billion dollars. The vice president oversees specific divisions and is held accountable for their results."
"You're fresh out of college."
"Back when I was still in college, I helped three startups with their strategic planning. One of them, GreenCore Technologies, had its valuation jump four times during Series B funding. Feel free to check if you don't believe me."
There was another long silence on the other end.
Then William said something that surprised Nina. "Come to the office tomorrow. I'll have HR set up an interview for you."
Nina hung up, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
Not because she was happy. She had finally seen one thing clearly. William was a businessman. He only cared about value.
Her tears, her outbursts, her attempts to win him over, none of them worked. Only when she stood before him and laid her cards on the table would he take her seriously.
That suited Nina perfectly. Making deals was what she did best.