Chapter 12 - THE LAST LIE
Richard looked sick.
Elliot approached him.
“What did she mean?”
Richard shook his head.
“I didn’t know Victor would hurt Sarah.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Peyton stared at her father.
“Dad?”
Richard sat on the porch steps.
Years seemed to fall onto his face.
“I paid Victor.”
Elliot felt something inside him go cold.
“Why?”
“I was running for state senate.”
Sarah had discovered that scholarship funds were being redirected into political events.
Some money had indirectly benefited Richard’s campaign.
“I needed to know what she had.”
“So you hired Victor to follow my wife.”
“Yes.”
Lila stood behind Elliot.
He wished she hadn’t heard it.
Richard continued.
“I told him to find out who she was talking to.”
“And Caroline?”
“She took over.”
“When?”
“When Sarah threatened to go public.”
Elliot stared at him.
“You started the chain.”
Richard nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I didn’t tell him to touch her car.”
“But you funded the man who did.”
Richard couldn’t argue.
Police arrested him later that evening on conspiracy and obstruction charges.
Peyton watched both parents taken away in less than twelve hours.
She looked broken.
For the first time, Lila approached her.
Peyton looked afraid.
“I’m sorry.”
Lila said nothing.
Peyton started crying.
“I know that doesn’t fix anything.”
“No.”
“I was horrible to you.”
“Yes.”
Peyton looked down.
“I thought if I made people afraid of me, nobody could make me feel small.”
Lila stared at her.
“That’s what you did to me.”
Peyton nodded.
“I know.”
Lila didn’t forgive her.
Not then.
She simply walked away.
Elliot was proud of that.
Forgiveness was not a debt Lila owed anyone.
Within a week, Ashbury Hall’s board dissolved.
Principal Crowe pleaded guilty to evidence tampering, fraud, and conspiracy.
The foundation’s accounts were frozen.
Dozens of families joined a civil case.
The school’s accreditation was placed under emergency review.
But Elliot wasn’t satisfied.
He returned to Sarah’s old files.
There was one document he couldn’t stop thinking about.
A handwritten note scanned into the archive.
SARAH REED — MEETING WITH E.M.?
Elliot stared.
E.M.
His initials.
Had Sarah been planning to tell him?
Dana found one more audio file.
It was Sarah’s voice.
Recorded two days before her death.
Elliot pressed play.
“If anything happens to me, please don’t let them tell Elliot I was reckless.”
His breathing stopped.
Sarah continued.
“I should have told him sooner.”
“He gets so busy trying to protect everyone that sometimes he forgets the people closest to him need him too.”
Elliot covered his mouth.
“I know he’ll blame himself.”
“Tell him not to.”
Lila entered the room.
She heard the recording.
Sarah’s voice continued.
“And tell Lila that being kind does not mean letting people hurt you.”
Lila began to cry.
Elliot pulled her close.
May you like
Sarah’s final words filled the room.
“Sometimes kindness has to stand up.”
