Chapter 5
Dad called 911 before I could react.
Daniel contacted someone on his security team.
I sat frozen on the examination table while everyone around me moved.
“Elena’s address,” Dad ordered.
Daniel already had it.
“Sherman Oaks. LAPD units are being dispatched.”
“I’m going.”
Dad looked at me.
“No.”
“I talked to her.”
“Avery.”
“She called because of me.”
“That doesn’t make this safe.”
I stood.
“Then don’t leave me somewhere alone while this is happening.”
He stared at me.
I knew that look.
He wanted to argue.
Instead he exhaled sharply.
“You stay in the vehicle until I say otherwise.”
I nodded.
We left urgent care through a private exit.
My neck was bandaged.
My hair still smelled faintly like noodles even after a nurse helped clean it.
None of that mattered anymore.
During the drive, I kept calling Elena.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Dad sat across from me in the SUV.
His phone rang constantly.
Lawyers.
Security.
Company executives.
Westbridge board members.
He ignored most of them.
Then he answered one.
“Claire.”
I looked at him.
Claire was my aunt.
Dad’s older sister.
I hadn’t seen her in almost a year.
Their relationship had been tense since my grandmother died.
“What did you hear?”
Dad asked.
His expression darkened.
“No. Do not speak to Mercer.”
A pause.
“Because he may be part of it.”
Another pause.
Dad looked at me.
“Yes, Avery’s with me.”
I heard my aunt’s voice rise through the phone.
Dad held it away slightly.
“I know.”
Then his face changed.
“What?”
He leaned forward.
“When?”
His eyes found Daniel’s.
“Send it now.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
Dad didn’t answer immediately.
“Dad.”
“Aunt Claire sits on the Westbridge advisory board.”
I knew that.
Mostly.
Dad rarely talked about it.
“She says Mercer asked board members to approve emergency deletion of certain outdated student records.”
My stomach dropped.
“Today?”
“Thirty-six minutes ago.”
Daniel muttered, “That’s evidence destruction.”
Dad nodded.
“Claire blocked the vote.”
I stared at him.
“She helped?”
“Yes.”
There was surprise in his voice.
I wondered what had happened between them.
Before I could ask, Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then relaxed slightly.
“Elena is safe.”
I almost cried from relief.
“What happened?”
“Her mother’s home. Police are there.”
“Who was in the car?”
Daniel listened.
Then frowned.
“Private courier.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“Delivering what?”
Another pause.
Daniel looked at us.
“A package.”
My relief disappeared.
“What package?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Twenty minutes later, we arrived outside Elena’s small house.
Police cars lined the street.
Dad made me wait until an officer confirmed the property was secure.
Then we went inside.
Elena stood beside her mother.
She was shorter than I expected.
Dark hair.
Oversized sweatshirt.
Eyes that looked older than sixteen.
When she saw me, she stared at the bandage on my neck.
“You really came.”
“So did you.”
She gave a nervous laugh.
Then she hugged me.
I barely knew her.
I hugged her anyway.
Her mother, Rosa, thanked Dad repeatedly.
He looked uncomfortable.
“You don’t owe me thanks.”
“But you sent a lawyer.”
“I should have known what happened months ago.”
Rosa’s expression hardened.
“Yes.”
Dad accepted it.
That made me proud of him.
A police officer approached.
“The package appears nonhazardous.”
“What’s inside?” Dad asked.
The officer held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a Westbridge yearbook.
Elena went pale.
“That’s mine.”
“You’re sure?”
“My name is written inside.”
The officer opened another evidence bag.
A photograph.
Elena stared at it.
Her mother covered her mouth.
“What?” I asked.
Elena pointed.
The photograph showed her outside Westbridge.
Taken from far away.
Someone had drawn a red X over her face.
My stomach twisted.
There was writing on the back.
The officer read it aloud.
“Scholarship girls should know when to leave.”
Dad’s face became stone.
I whispered, “Girls?”
Elena looked at me.
“What?”
“It says girls.”
I turned toward Dad.
“But Noah was a boy.”
Dad understood.
“This wasn’t meant for all scholarship students.”
Elena hugged herself.
“Maybe whoever wrote it just—”
“No.”
I thought of Madison.
The way she treated girls she considered beneath her.
The cafeteria.
The humiliation.
The phones.
“Who else left?”
Dad opened the file his lawyer had sent.
“Fourteen students.”
“How many were girls?”
He scrolled.
His face changed.
“Eleven.”
Elena whispered, “Oh my God.”
Rosa sat down.
I moved closer to Dad.
“What happened to the other girls?”
He read.
“Academic dishonesty. Drug possession. Theft. Behavioral violations.”
Elena gave a humorless laugh.
“Same pattern.”
I looked at her.
“Did you know any of them?”
“Some.”
She took Dad’s phone and scrolled.
Then she stopped.
“Wait.”
Her finger pressed one name.
“Maya Bennett.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
“She didn’t withdraw.”
Dad frowned.
“The file says she did.”
“No.”
Elena looked terrified.
“Maya disappeared during sophomore year.”
The room went silent.
“What do you mean disappeared?” Dad asked.
“She stopped coming to school.”
“Maybe she transferred.”
“That’s what everyone said.”
Elena shook her head.
“But before she vanished, she told me she had proof the school was stealing scholarship money.”
My pulse hammered.
Dad looked at Daniel.
“Find her.”
Daniel started typing.
Elena grabbed my arm.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Maya didn’t trust email.”
“So?”
“She hid things.”
“Where?”
Elena looked toward her mother.
Then back at me.
“She once told me if anything happened to her, the truth was still at Westbridge.”
Dad leaned forward.
“Where at Westbridge?”
Elena swallowed.
“She said, ‘Behind the names of people who paid to be remembered.’”
I frowned.
Then I understood.
Westbridge had a donor hall.
Brass plaques covered the walls.
Each one displayed the names of wealthy families.
Including Blake.
Lane.
Ward.
And Harrison.
Dad’s phone buzzed.
Daniel looked at the screen first.
His face tightened.
“I found Maya Bennett.”
“Where?”
Daniel slowly looked up.
“She didn’t transfer.”
My stomach dropped.
May you like
He continued.
“She was reported missing eighteen months ago.”
