I think of what Amy’s sacrificed to uncover the truth. I think of our room destroyed, the hate on our wall, and feel my whole bodystiffen. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing. I’m going to the police.”
“Naomi, don’t be rash. If you do that, your sister is going to end up in prison.” Kai looks down.
I stare at her. I take a step back, slowly retreating as the desperation of the past year boils up within me. “No, she didn’t do anything on purpose…she wouldn’t…”
Kai looks behind her at a woman with a large shopping bag passing too closely, and once the woman has passed, she leans in close and lowers her voice to a blunt whisper. “Your sisterdiddo something on purpose. Drugging someone without their knowledge is afelony.When the person dies, that’sfelony murder,best-case scenario. It doesn’t matter if the drug wasintendedfor someone else, what matters in court is whatactuallyhappened. Do you understand?” The intense fear in her eyes scares me, and what she says next rips the remaining breath from my lungs. “Your sister could go to prison for life.”
—
Maya committedfelonymurder? the realization sends a wave of dread over me.
Once settled on the train, I call Amy. “We have to drop it.”
“What, why?” She sounds alarmed.
Because my sister could go to prison for life.I draw in a breath. “You can publish the article, but we have to keep my sister out of it.”
This quiets her. She seems to understand. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
—
It’s hard tofocus as I sit next to Amy in DuPont’s class the next day. I haven’t gone to his lecture in weeks. My grades are slipping, and I should drop the class, but that would require meeting with DuPont.
“It’s my turn to present today,” Amy whispers.
I blink at her. “What?”
“Our presentations, remember? They were assigned months ago. Yours is probably coming up.” Noticing that Amy is more dressed up than usual in her black blazer and heeled oxford loafers, I try toremember signing up to present a topic to class, but I’ve been so distracted lately that nothing comes to mind.
“Amy Chen.” DuPont motions for Amy to come to the stage.
“Wish me luck.”
Amy’s speech is on the rising interest rate and its effect on the housing market. Halfway through her speech, she clicks to the next slide on the projector, and her face falls. She fumbles with the remote. I’ve zoned out a little when I start to hear low murmurs ripple through the class, and behind me, some guys breaking out in laughter.
I turn around and glare at them. It’s Pete Whitney and friends, of course. “What the hell is your problem?” I snap.
Pete’s face is red from laughing. I don’t understand what’s happening until I hear suppressed chuckles echo throughout the entire two-level lecture hall. Pete looks past my shoulder and points to the stage.
To my horror, the screen where Amy’s presentation had been is now playing a recording of Amy in her dorm room, dressed in lingerie and makeup, flirting with the camera like a cam-girl. It’s impossible to hear what she’s saying over the laughter of the audience, but it sounds like she’s having some kind of sexy video call. A guy’s voice is egging her on.
“Turn it up!” Behind me, Pete and his friends burst out in laughter again. Ignoring Pete, I rush toward the stage where Amy is desperately gathering her notes. On her way down the stairs, she stumbles and spills the papers all over the floor.
“Let me help.” I bend down and start gathering papers for her. She is shaking uncontrollably as she blinks tears away.
Once we’ve gathered her things, I stand to find an entire classroom of people staring. A girl in front whispers loudly to her friend. Several others shamelessly raise their phones.
“It’s okay,” I say, moving in front of her. “Ignore them.” But Amy has already seized her things and is surging down the aisle toward the exit. People are laughing, turning their phones to get the shot.
“What are you looking at?” I yell. “Put your phones away!”
Before following after her, I turn to take one last look at the projector and notice something I hadn’t registered before. Text thatreads:You’re in a private video call with @chinacutiexx.It looks like YourFans, one of those subscription sites where your followers can pay for content.
My eyes slide down to DuPont, who is standing below the projector. His face is in shadow and I can’t see his eyes. He could have easily stopped it. He could have shut the projector down, or clicked out of Amy’s presentation.What are you doing standing there?I want to scream. And that’s when it hits me like a blow to my center—he was letting this happen.
“Okay, everyone,” DuPont says, stepping forward into the light to reveal his expression, calm and calculated. “That’s enough.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
