“Dad,” Ethan asked softly, running his hand over the taped laptop, “Mr. Carter says we can move somewhere bigger. Do you want to?”
Thomas thought of their small apartment—the peeling paint, the memories of Grace’s laughter.
“That was the last place your mom called home,” he said quietly. “I’m not ready to leave.”
Ethan smiled. “Then we won’t.”
Because in the end, Ethan understood something greater than wealth or power. Success wasn’t marble floors or towering buildings. It was love that never faded, problems solved with courage, and the quiet strength to think in ways the world had never imagined.
And that was more powerful than any empire.
