Chapter 10 - Old Partners
Emma read the letter three times.
Margaret Grant had once accused Vivian of the same kind of manipulation Brightwood was now protecting.
“How did they end up working together?” Ava asked.
Emma had no idea.
David Cole did.
By noon the next day, he had dug through old nonprofit filings and business records.
“Brightwood almost closed six years ago,” he said over speakerphone. “Debt, lease problems, declining enrollment.”
“And?”
“Vivian Sanders came in with money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to save it.”
Emma looked at the ledger pictures spread across Carla’s kitchen table.
“So Margaret hated her, then took her money.”
“People make ugly deals when they’re scared,” David said.
That afternoon, Emma met Margaret outside a coffee shop.
Margaret had agreed only after Emma texted a photo of the old letter.
She looked twenty years older than she had in the studio.
“You should let this go,” Margaret said.
Emma slid the letter across the table.
“You first.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“You don’t understand what happened.”
“Then explain it.”
Margaret stared through the window.
“Vivian ruined people back then. I was one of them.”
“And now you help her do it.”
“I saved Brightwood.”
“No. You sold it.”
Margaret flinched.
Emma leaned closer. “Did you alter Lily’s scholarship score?”
“No.”
“Did Vivian?”
Margaret said nothing.
“That’s an answer.”
“She controls the board. She controls the building lease. She controls half the donors. If she walks, two hundred kids lose their studio.”
“So you sacrifice one kid at a time to keep the doors open?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“You think choices are clean when you’re outside them.”
Emma shook her head. “A kid got slapped in your studio and you punished the witness.”
Margaret looked down.
For a second, Emma thought she might finally tell the truth.
Instead she whispered, “You need to get Lily out before Saturday.”
Emma went still.
“What happens Saturday?”
Margaret stood.
“I’ve already said too much.”
Emma caught her wrist—not hard, just enough to stop her.
“What happens Saturday?”
Margaret pulled free.
“The spring showcase audition.”
“We know that.”
“No.” Margaret looked terrified. “You don’t.”
May you like
She leaned close.
“Lily isn’t supposed to make it through the audition.”
