Chapter 10 - RICHARD DOES NOT BUY A DAUGHTER
Richard’s first instinct was money.
He fought it.
Maya noticed.
He wanted to:
buy her an apartment,
replace her job,
set up security,
transfer investments.
She refused all of it.
“I had a life yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You keep trying to build me a different one overnight.”
Richard stopped.
Then asked:
“What would help?”
“Answers.”
So he funded investigation only through a structure Maya’s lawyer could audit.
He did not control her interviews.
Did not buy her silence.
Did not announce her publicly.
When the press learned anyway, Richard issued one statement:
A private family matter involving a person who has requested privacy. Please respect it.
No:
My daughter has come home.
Because Maya had not.
Not yet.
Maybe never in the way he imagined.
That restraint became the first thing she trusted about him.
Not the billions.
The stopping.
Richard’s wealth created a strange problem after Maya’s identity became public.
People from her past began contacting her.
Former classmates.
Distant acquaintances.
A man she dated for three months.
Some wanted to congratulate her.
Some wanted access.
One wrote:
Always knew you were special.
Maya laughed.
Then blocked him.
She told Richard:
“This is what your life feels like?”
“Sometimes.”
“I hate it.”
“I know.”
She hired security temporarily.
With her own attorney negotiating the contract.
Richard paid only after she agreed it was a reimbursable family-protection expense under the restored trust.
May you like
That detail mattered to Maya.
Money could help without making her dependent on his permission.
