The east lawn faded behind us as Lia kept her grip on my wrist like she was afraid I'd vanish if she let go. Her steps were quick, almost bouncy, the pleated skirt swishing around her thighs with every stride.
She kept glancing back at me, that small, real smile from the bench still playing on her lips, brighter now, glowing with something like disbelief and pure joy.
"You're insane," she whispered for the third time, half-laughing. "A hundred thousand dollars. Just like that. Daddy, you—"
"Stop saying it like I bought a car," I murmured, letting her pull me along the side path that curved behind the business school buildings. "I told you. I'm handling it. All of it."
She didn't answer with words. Instead she tugged me harder, veering off the main path toward a narrow service alley between the old library annex and a maintenance shed no one ever seemed to use.
