“I think Grandpa Robert accidentally did us a favor by being so dishonest, because now we get to help lots of grandmas and their kids instead of just worrying about ourselves.”

Some betrayals, I was learning, could be transformed into purposes that outlasted the people who created them. Some nine-year-olds understood justice better than many adults. And some foundations were built on the simple recognition that children’s observations could be more powerful than professional investigations when they were motivated by love rather than strategy.

Tomorrow, Patricia Thompson and Amy would begin the process of documenting and recovering hidden assets that could total over a million dollars. Tonight, I would be grateful for the granddaughter who’d shown other children that protecting their families sometimes required paying attention when adults assumed no one was watching and speaking truth when adults preferred convenient lies.

One year after the foundation’s opening, I was preparing for our first annual gala when Emily rushed into the event planning office with a newspaper article clutched in her small hands and an expression of barely contained excitement on her face.

“Grandma Kathy, look, we’re famous!”

The headline read, “Foundation Led by Fraud Victim Helps 200 Women Recover $15 Million in Hidden Assets.” Below it was a photo of me standing outside our downtown office with Sandra Martinez and several clients who’d successfully challenged their husband’s financial deception.

“The reporter talked to lots of the ladies we helped,” Emily continued, reading from the article with growing pride. “Mrs. Thompson recovered $1.2 million that her husband hid in offshore accounts. Mrs. Peterson found out her husband had been stealing from her business for eight years. And Mrs. Williams discovered that her husband bought three houses she didn’t know existed.”

I read over Emily’s shoulder, marveling at the scope of what we’d accomplished in just 12 months. Two hundred women, $15 million in recovered assets, countless families where children had provided crucial testimony about financial conversations they’d witnessed.

“Emily, look at this part about you.”

The article included a sidebar titled “Young Heroes: Children Who Exposed Family Financial Fraud” that featured Emily prominently.

“Emily Stevens, now nine, was eight years old when she testified about secret conversations she’d overheard between her grandfather and his girlfriend about hiding money from her grandmother. Her detailed observations helped recover $1.9 million in fraudulent transfers and inspired the creation of the Katherine Gillian Foundation. Since then, Emily has become an informal mentor to other children whose observations have uncovered similar financial deception.”

“Grandma Kathy, does this mean other kids are doing what I did?”

“Exactly what you did—paying attention, asking questions, and helping protect their families from people who think children don’t notice important things.”

The phone rang before Emily could respond. Sandra’s voice was excited when I answered.

“Mrs. Gillian, Channel 7 wants to interview you and Emily for their weekend feature story about the foundation. They’re particularly interested in how children’s testimony has become crucial evidence in financial fraud cases.”

I looked at Emily, who was already nodding enthusiastically before I could ask her opinion about being interviewed on television.

“Sandra, schedule it for tomorrow afternoon. And, Sandra, see if Amy Thompson can participate, too. Her case has become one of our most successful recoveries.”

Two days later, I was sitting in the Channel 7 studio with Emily and Amy, watching both girls explain to reporter Janet Morrison how they documented their grandfather’s financial deception with the matter-of-fact precision that children bring to observable facts.

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