Dante speaks first, low voice cutting through the hush. “That's good, Maddox.”
Maya looks up, eyes locking with his. Dark. Lethal. “It’s the truth.”
“It’s a weapon,” Dante says. He crosses his arms, the faintest note of respect in his expression—rare, earned.
Maya’s smile widens. “All truth is.”
She turns the laptop toward us. “Read it.”
We do.
Silence deepens. Somehow, impossibly, the room gets tighter.
It's perfect. Clean. Devastating. A kill shot wrapped in journalistic integrity.
Maya looks at all of us, then back at her screen.
“Now—Phase One. We send the summary of allegations to the University President, the Board, and Alistair.” She taps a key. “I’m CC’ing his private email—the one Genny found in the hack. He’ll get the notification instantly on his phone.”
“He won’t concede,” Adrian says. Voice not loud, but sure. Heavy. “Men like that… they don’t fold. They burn everything down with them.”
“He knows that,” Declan says quietly, hand tightening on my knee. The cut on his knuckle stretches white. “Let him try.”
“I’m giving him a deadline,” Maya says, cursor hovering. “Midnight. That’s four hours to comment before we go live.”
Four hours. The ticking clock starts now.
“Send it,” I say.
Maya hits send.
The icon flashes. The file shoots into cyberspace.
The silence afterward is a living thing—heavy, expectant, crawling over my skin.
We wait.
Ten minutes crawl by. The only sound is Zoë tapping her foot like she’s trying to drill a hole through the floor. It feels like waiting for lightning after you’ve already heard the thunder.
Then—
A sharp, vibrating ring breaks the tension.
Everyone jumps.
It’s not Maya’s phone.
Not Genny’s.
Not Clara’s or Adrian’s.
Not mine.
It’s Declan’s.
The screen lights up, buzzing angrily against the cushion next to me.
Father.
