I reached out, my trembling fingers brushing against a printed document pinned beneath the map. It was a legal brief. A whistleblower report detailing massive fraud and embezzlement within Shaw Enterprises.
I frowned, reading the highlighted text. The report didn't accuse my father. It accused Robert Shaw. It claimed Robert had stolen millions from his own employees to fund a gambling addiction, and that my father's hostile takeover had actually saved the pension fund from completely collapsing.
My heart skipped a beat.
If this report was true, my father wasn't the monster Evelyn Shaw believed him to be. Robert Shaw had ruined himself. My father had just picked up the pieces.
“Fascinating reading, isn’t it?”
I spun around, knocking a stack of sheet music off the desk.
Evelyn Harrington was standing in the doorway of the office.
CHAPTER 3
She looked entirely different than she had in the parking lot. The hysterical rage was gone, replaced by a cold, unsettling calm. She wore a neat gray cardigan, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes fixed on me with chilling precision.
I took a step back, my shoulder hitting the corkboard. "Where is Marcus?" I demanded, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady.
"Your bodyguard?" Ms. Harrington smiled thinly. "I had the principal page him to the front office. A minor issue with your suspension paperwork. He'll realize he's been stalled in about two minutes. But two minutes is all I need."
She stepped fully into the small office, closing the door behind her with a soft click. The sound felt like a lock snapping shut on a cage.
"You shouldn't be here, Chloe," she said, her voice eerily calm, like a teacher correcting a student's posture. "Suspended students are not permitted on campus."
"I came for my clarinet," I said, gesturing to the chair in the band room. "I'm leaving."
"You're leaving," she repeated, her eyes drifting to the corkboard behind me. "Just like your father left my husband. Taking what you want, leaving the wreckage behind."
"I know who you are," I said, my voice rising. "I know about Robert Shaw."
Her expression flickered, a crack in the ice. "Do you? Did Daddy tell you how he gutted our company? How he fired two thousand people and drove my husband to put a gun in his mouth?"
"I read this," I fired back, pointing a shaking finger at the whistleblower report pinned to the board. "The fraud report. Robert was embezzling from the pension fund. My father didn't ruin him. He ruined himself."
Ms. Harrington’s face contorted, the cold mask slipping to reveal the raw, gaping wound underneath. She stepped forward, slamming her hands down on the desk between us.
"Lies!" she hissed, her voice vibrating with venom. "Arthur fabricated that report to justify the hostile takeover! He bought the board, he bought the auditors, and he destroyed a good man to line his own pockets!"
I stared at her, realizing the terrifying depth of her delusion. She didn't believe the report. She couldn't. Admitting her husband was a criminal would mean admitting his death wasn't a martyrdom, but a cowardly escape from accountability. It was easier to blame the corporate titan. It was easier to blame the billionaire.
It was easier to blame me.
"The dress in the parking lot," I said, the pieces connecting rapidly in my mind. "You wanted my father to react. You wanted the press to see him bullying a public school teacher."
"I wanted the world to see the monster he is," she said, her breathing heavy. "And it worked perfectly. He’s already filed the injunction. He’s already demanding my termination. The press is eating it up. The arrogant billionaire crushing the little guy."
She reached out and tapped the map of the auditorium pinned to the board.
"And on Friday night, at the gala, when he stands on that stage to accept his humanitarian award, I’m going to project the real files. I’m going to show the board, the mayor, and the press exactly how Arthur Vance acquired his empire. I’m going to ruin him, Chloe. Just like he ruined me."
"He'll stop you," I said, my heart hammering in my chest. "He has security. He has lawyers."