Amanda nodded quickly. “I understand.”

“I am not the only one who makes hiring decisions at CoreBrand,” I continued, closing her portfolio case and sliding it back across the table. “You will need to interview with the department head and the creative director. I will not influence their evaluation one way or the other. If they think you are the best fit for the team, the job is yours. If they don’t, then you will have to look elsewhere.”

A look of profound relief washed over her face. It wasn’t the joy of getting a job; it was the relief of being treated fairly by someone she had inadvertently wronged.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice steadying. “That’s more than I had any right to ask for.”

“We are done here for today,” I said, standing up and buttoning my jacket. “My assistant will follow up with you by tomorrow afternoon regarding the next steps.”

She stood as well, extending her hand across the table. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, looking at the hand of the sister I thought had abandoned me. Then, I took it. Her grip was firm, a sharp contrast to the trembling girl who had walked into the room twenty minutes prior.

As she turned to leave the interview room, I watched her walk down the long corridor toward the elevators. The anger that had sustained me through the coldest nights of my life felt lighter now, replaced by a strange, quiet clarity. The past could not be rewritten, and the fund I had lost was gone forever. But as I picked up the old bank statement she had left behind, I realized that my father’s lies no longer held any power over either of us.