Chapter 10 - The Price of Silence
Mara crossed the room before anyone could stop her.
“You touched my sister’s education?”
Celeste backed into the desk.
“I don’t control scholarship reviews.”
“You control the foundation.”
“My board does.”
“At midnight?”
Celeste opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Julian stepped between them, not to protect Celeste, but to keep Mara from making one furious mistake that could be used against her.
“Mara. Nora first.”
Mara’s chest heaved.
He was right.
She hated that he was right.
Julian called someone at Vale University Partners and spoke for less than a minute.
“No gifts,” Mara said immediately.
He covered the phone. “I’m not paying her tuition.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Making sure a donor cannot erase an approved scholarship without review.”
He returned to the call.
Mara looked at Celeste.
Celeste’s eyes were colder than before.
Not embarrassed.
Not afraid.
Furious that Mara had survived another move.
Detective Elena Moreno arrived twenty minutes later with two officers.
She listened to the timeline, bagged the necklace, scarf, and clasp, and took Brent’s phone.
Celeste asked for a lawyer.
“Good idea,” Moreno said.
Mara almost liked her immediately.
When Moreno asked about the eleven-year-old modeling theft, Mara hesitated.
“It was closed.”
“Closed isn’t the same as true.”
Celeste’s attorney arrived before midnight and took her out through the front entrance.
No handcuffs.
No dramatic arrest.
Just a promise that she was not to leave the state while evidence was reviewed.
Before she left, Celeste stopped beside Mara.
“You think he saved you tonight?” she whispered.
Mara held her gaze.
“I saved him first.”
Celeste’s smile vanished.
Then she said something only Mara could hear.
“Ask him why your old agency file is in the Vale archive.”
Mara froze.
Celeste walked away.
Ten minutes later, Mara found Julian in the library.
“Do you have a file on me?”
He looked confused.
“What?”
“From eleven years ago.”
“No.”
“Celeste says my agency file is in your archive.”
Julian stared at her for a moment, then crossed to a wall panel and opened a secure cabinet.
He typed a search into the family records index.
MARA ELLISON.
One result appeared.
ARCHIVE BOX 14C — RESTRICTED.
Julian looked at the date.
May you like
His face changed.
The file had been added eleven years ago by his father.
