By the time the police vehicles cleared out of the driveway, the sun was beginning to rise over the Dallas skyline, casting a warm golden light through the massive front windows of the Vance estate.
Arthur: Elena, I want you to sit down. Please.
Elena: Oh, no, Mr. Vance, I need to clean up all this plaster dust and broken drywall in the hallway—
Arthur: Stop cleaning. Sit down, please. That's an order.
Elena hesitated before taking a seat on the armchair opposite the sofa where Arthur and Toby were sitting.
Arthur: You risked your job, your safety, and your whole life to save my son and me. A simple salary isn't enough to thank you.
Elena: I just did what any human being should do, sir. Toby is an innocent child.
Arthur: Effective immediately, I am promoting you to head manager of this entire property with triple your current salary. And I'm setting up a trust fund for your daughter's college education.
Elena: Mr. Vance... that's too much! I can't accept that!
Arthur: You saved my family from total destruction. You saved my life and brought my boy back from the dead. It's the very least I can do.
Toby: Can Miss Elena stay with us forever, Daddy?
Arthur: She can stay as long as she wants, Toby. She's family now.
Elena wiped a tear from her eye, a warm, genuine smile breaking across her tired face for the first time in months.
Elena: Thank you, Mr. Vance. Thank you so much.
Arthur: Tomorrow, we start tearing down that whole wall completely. We're going to remodel this house from top to bottom.
Toby: Can we turn that room into a big playroom with toys, Daddy?
Arthur: We can turn it into whatever you want, son. Whatever you want.
Arthur held his son tight, looking at the broken wall one last time, knowing that while the dark secrets had almost destroyed them, the truth had finally set them free.
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