Chapter 13 - THE MAN AT THE TOP
Maya stared at her father.
“Tell me it’s fake.”
Thomas Reynolds looked almost sad.
“Maya.”
“Tell me.”
“You don’t understand what you’re looking at.”
She laughed through tears.
“That’s what guilty people always say.”
Bell closed the door.
Investigator Shaw reached for his weapon.
Bell already had his out.
“Don’t.”
Shaw slowly raised his hands.
Thomas walked into the room.
“I built this school into what it is.”
Maya shook her head.
“No. You stole it.”
“I protected it.”
“You blackmailed students.”
“Your mother started this problem.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
Thomas’s voice became harder.
“Rebecca couldn’t leave things alone.”
Mark stepped forward.
“She saw you kill my brother.”
Thomas looked at him.
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I wasn’t at the quarry.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Thomas continued.
“Voss panicked. Adam fought him. Things went too far.”
“Things?”
Mark’s face twisted.
“My brother died.”
“And if Adam had gone public, dozens of families would’ve been destroyed.”
Jake stared at him.
“So you covered it up.”
“I contained it.”
“You’re insane.”
Thomas looked at Jake.
“Do you know what happens when a school loses funding? Teachers lose jobs. Kids lose scholarships. Programs disappear.”
Jake laughed.
“So you extorted teenagers to protect teenagers?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“We did what we had to do.”
Maya looked at him.
“Did Mom know you were involved?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
“DID SHE?”
“Yes.”
Maya’s face crumpled.
“What did you do to her?”
Thomas looked away.
And that was enough.
Maya whispered, “You killed her too.”
“No.”
“You killed her.”
“She was sick.”
“She had cancer!”
“She was going to expose everything.”
Maya stepped toward him.
Thomas suddenly shouted.
“I NEVER TOUCHED HER!”
Everyone froze.
His breathing was heavy.
“But Voss did.”
Silence.
Thomas closed his eyes.
“He changed her medication.”
Maya stopped breathing.
Jake felt nausea rise in his throat.
“You knew?” Maya whispered.
Thomas opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
Thomas looked at his daughter.
“I had already lost your mother.”
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“You chose yourself.”
Bell raised his gun.
“We need to go.”
Thomas nodded.
Then Jake heard something outside.
A low mechanical hum.
Bell frowned.
“What is that?”
Jake smiled.
A news helicopter rose above the football field.
Maya pulled a tiny microphone from beneath her shirt.
Thomas’s face went white.
She had been broadcasting the entire conversation.
May you like
Live.
“To everybody,” Maya said.
