Chapter 17 - The Last Thing They Tried to Steal
“Stop!” Evan yelled.
Briggs reached the exit.
A delivery truck blocked half the alley.
He tried to squeeze past it.
Maya appeared from the opposite doorway.
“That's mine!”
Briggs froze for one second.
It was enough.
An agent tackled him.
The backpack skidded across wet concrete and stopped at Maya's feet.
She picked it up and hugged it to her chest.
I arrived breathless.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“What was so important in there?”
She opened the front pocket and pulled out a cheap spiral notebook.
“My mom's recipes.”
That was all.
Not evidence.
Not financial records.
Recipes.
For a moment, I hated Briggs more for that than for anything else.
Maya ran a hand over the bent cover.
“It's the only thing I have with her handwriting.”
I understood immediately.
Across the alley, Sophie stood with Mrs. Alvarez and two agents. She had tears in her eyes.
When Maya returned, Sophie hugged her so hard they nearly fell over.
Inside the ballroom, Whitmore was escorted away for questioning. He had not yet been charged, but nobody believed his speech anymore.
The board chair resigned before midnight.
Briggs was arrested for obstruction, theft, and his role in the harassment campaign.
Nolan remained in custody on weapons and financial charges.
The scandal hit every local news station by morning.
I expected Maya to feel victorious.
Instead, she sat at our kitchen table staring at cereal.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“Your scholarship gets restored.”
She did not react.
“I'll make sure you have housing.”
Nothing.
“You can stay here as long as—”
“Stop.”
I blinked.
Maya pushed the bowl away.
“You keep talking like the ending is you buying enough things until everything is fixed.”
“That isn't what I mean.”
“It kind of is.”
Sophie watched us silently.
Maya stood.
“I don't want to become your charity story. I don't want reporters saying billionaire saves homeless genius.”
My face heated.
“I never said that.”
“You don't have to. They'll say it for you.”
She picked up her backpack.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Maya looked at me for a long moment.
May you like
“A choice.”
Then she walked out of the kitchen.
