Chapter 6
I barely slept.
Dad refused to let me return home without extra security.
By midnight, our house had two guards outside and another inside.
I hated it.
Not because I felt trapped.
Because Elena had lived with fear for months and nobody had protected her like this.
At two in the morning, I found Dad in his study.
His laptop was open.
Stacks of reports covered his desk.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“So should you.”
He rubbed his eyes.
“I’m working.”
“So am I.”
“You’re standing in pajamas.”
“I’m emotionally working.”
That made him smile for half a second.
Then I sat across from him.
“Tell me about Maya.”
Dad’s expression darkened.
“Police classified her disappearance as a runaway case initially.”
“Why?”
“She was seventeen. Her father reported family conflict.”
“Do they still think she ran away?”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“Why not?”
“Her bank account was untouched. Her phone was found near a bus station three days later.”
I pulled my knees toward my chest.
“That sounds staged.”
“It may have been.”
“Did Westbridge get questioned?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Mercer told police Maya had withdrawn after disciplinary problems.”
I stared at him.
“The same false records.”
“Possibly.”
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“What if they didn’t just push her out?”
His jaw tightened.
“We don’t speculate past evidence.”
I hated that answer because I knew he was right.
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown account.
A photograph loaded.
It was me.
Sitting inside the urgent care examination room.
Taken through the window.
My blood went cold.
Dad saw my face.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
He stood instantly.
“Daniel!”
Security moved through the house within seconds.
The message contained only four words.
STOP DIGGING, RICH GIRL.
Dad took my phone.
“When did this arrive?”
“Just now.”
Daniel checked the metadata.
“Likely routed through a masked service.”
Dad stared at the photograph.
“Someone followed us.”
Daniel nodded.
“Or had access to the clinic’s security feed.”
That possibility felt worse.
I wrapped my arms around myself.
Dad noticed.
“This ends now.”
“What does?”
“You go nowhere near Westbridge until police clear it.”
I stood.
“No.”
“Avery.”
“Maya hid something there.”
“Which law enforcement can find.”
“They don’t know where to look.”
“We tell them.”
“Behind the names of people who paid to be remembered.”
“Yes.”
“There are hundreds of plaques.”
Dad’s patience snapped.
“You received a surveillance photograph inside a medical clinic.”
“I know.”
“Then act like you understand what that means.”
I flinched.
He saw it immediately.
His voice softened.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You taught me not to hide behind our name.”
“This has nothing to do with our name.”
“It has everything to do with it.”
He frowned.
I pointed toward the reports.
“Those students wrote to your foundation.”
His expression tightened.
“Someone intercepted the letters.”
“But nobody noticed.”
“That’s on me.”
“Then why are we letting other people fix it?”
“Because you’re sixteen.”
“I’m seventeen next month.”
“That was devastatingly persuasive.”
“Dad.”
He closed his eyes.
“I will not use you as bait for an investigation.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Before either of us could continue, his laptop chimed.
A video call.
Aunt Claire.
Dad hesitated.
Then answered.
Claire’s face appeared.
Her silver-streaked dark hair was tied back.
She looked exhausted.
“Avery.”
“Hi, Aunt Claire.”
Her expression softened.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“That means no.”
Dad interrupted.
“What did Mercer say?”
Claire became serious.
“He called an emergency board meeting for eight tomorrow morning.”
“Purpose?”
“To suspend all cooperation with Harrison Foundation pending legal review.”
Dad laughed.
“He’s trying to lock us out.”
“Yes.”
“Can the board do that?”
“Temporarily.”
Claire looked at me.
“But I found something.”
Dad leaned closer.
“What?”
“Mercer has been receiving consulting payments.”
“From whom?”
Claire shared her screen.
A financial statement appeared.
One company name repeated.
Pacific Academic Solutions.
Dad frowned.
“I don’t know it.”
“I do,” Claire said.
She clicked another document.
Pacific Academic Solutions was registered to an address in Nevada.
The managing member was listed as a trust.
The trust’s representative?
Richard Blake.
I stared.
“Madison’s father.”
Dad’s expression became unreadable.
“How much?”
“Nearly eight hundred thousand dollars over four years.”
I felt sick.
“For what?”
“No contracts attached.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“Money laundering?”
“Maybe kickbacks.”
Claire continued.
“Here’s what’s worse.”
She opened another page.
Pacific Academic Solutions had received payments from three entities.
Westbridge Academy.
Lane Education Technologies.
And Harrison Outreach Services.
Dad stopped breathing.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“Harrison?”
He stared at the screen.
Claire’s voice softened.
“Ethan, Harrison Outreach is one of your subsidiaries.”
“I know what it is.”
His face had gone pale.
I had never seen him look frightened by his own company.
“Who runs it?”
Claire hesitated.
Then answered.
“Richard.”
The room went silent.
Dad whispered, “No.”
Claire continued.
“He’s been president of the division for six years.”
Dad looked toward me.
I understood immediately.
Richard wasn’t just an employee.
Dad had trusted him.
Deeply.
Dad stood.
“Get internal audit.”
“I already did.”
“Freeze his access.”
“Done.”
“Preserve every server.”
“Done.”
Dad stared at his sister.
Their years of tension vanished under the crisis.
“Thank you.”
Claire seemed surprised.
“So now you remember I’m useful?”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“Not tonight.”
She looked away.
Old wounds.
More secrets.
I didn’t want another mystery, but I could feel one.
“Aunt Claire,” I said.
She looked at me.
“Why haven’t you and Dad spoken?”
Dad immediately said, “Avery.”
Claire ignored him.
“Because five years ago, I told your father Richard Blake was stealing from the company.”
I stared at Dad.
He looked furious.
Not at her.
At himself.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“And Ethan chose Richard’s explanation over mine.”
Dad sank slowly into his chair.
I felt the room change.
This was no longer only about Westbridge.
Richard had been inside our family’s company for years.
And Dad had been warned.
Claire continued.
“Ethan, I need to show you one more thing.”
A document appeared.
It was an internal complaint from five years earlier.
At the bottom was Claire’s signature.
Beside it was another name.
A witness.
Maya Bennett’s father.
I leaned toward the screen.
“Why would Maya’s father be connected to Harrison?”
Claire looked directly at me.
“Because he worked for us too.”
My stomach dropped.
“What happened to him?”
May you like
Claire’s face went pale.
“He died three weeks after filing the complaint.”
