Chapter 11 - VERONICA’S CHOICE
Bell had taken Veronica through an old service tunnel beneath the auditorium.
My mother refused to be used in an exchange.
“I lost fourteen years,” she said. “I won’t lose another girl because of him.”
“You don’t owe Veronica anything,” my father said.
“This isn’t about what she deserves. It’s about who I choose to be.”
I finally understood where my stubbornness came from.
Marcus traced Veronica’s microphone to an abandoned boathouse on university property. Federal agents surrounded it, but Bell threatened to kill her if anyone approached.
I went in alone.
Veronica was tied to a chair. Her makeup had run down her face. Bell stood behind her with a gun.
At seventy-two, he still looked like the reassuring grandfather featured in business magazines.
“Amelia,” he said. “You’ve caused an extraordinary amount of trouble.”
“You framed my father and imprisoned my mother.”
“I protected an institution.”
“You stole from students.”
“I turned a struggling college into a national brand.”
“With stolen scholarship money.”
“Every great organization is built on sacrifices.”
Veronica laughed bitterly. “Funny how the sacrifice is always someone else.”
Bell pressed the gun against her head.
“Where is Elaine?”
“She isn’t coming.”
His calm expression finally cracked.
I held up my phone.
“But she gave me the access code to the evidence.”
Bell wanted the code. I wanted a confession.
We circled each other with words while cameras hidden in my coat streamed everything to the gala.
He admitted creating Red Harbor. He admitted ordering my mother’s removal. He admitted framing my father.
Then he smiled.
“Confessions only matter if witnesses live long enough to repeat them.”
Veronica suddenly threw herself sideways, knocking his arm away.
The gun fired.
She hit the floor.
I tackled Bell before he could aim again. We crashed into a table. He struck me across the face and reached for the weapon.
The boathouse doors burst open.
Federal agents surrounded him.
Veronica groaned.
The bullet had grazed her shoulder.
As paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher, she caught my hand.
“Why did you come for me?”
“Because I’m not you.”
She flinched as if I had struck her.
May you like
Then she whispered, “My father has the real ledger. And he’s planning to burn Westbridge tonight.”
Outside, smoke was already rising above the campus.
