theft easier.
That evening, I walked through the estate after the last guests had left.
Staff extinguished candles in the courtyard, and the old stone walls held the remaining warmth of the day.
Valle Serena was not valuable because it proved I had secretly become more successful than my family imagined.
The deed mattered, but not as much as the decision I made while holding it.
For once, I had opened the locked door to my future and stepped through it myself.
Then I closed it behind me.
