Tuition Day

Liam Hawthorne.

The name felt like a live wire in her hand. The black sheep. The one no one talked about, except in hushed, pitying tones at Thanksgiving. *Poor Liam. Always trouble. Such a shame he couldn't handle the pressure.*

But it wasn't pressure. It was displacement. He had been erased to make room for a genetically viable heir.

"Where is he?" Elena asked. "Where is Liam?"

"He lives off the grid," Silas said, pulling up a satellite map. "He runs a salvage yard in North Charleston. Under the name William Graves."

He tapped a location. A scrapyard near the old naval base.

"He knows how to get into the house?"

"He grew up there," Silas said. "And he knows where the bodies are buried. Literally. He saw them digging in the rose garden when he was ten. That's why they sent him away."

The rose garden. Where Constance had held the gala. Where she had toasted the legacy.

"I need to go to him," Elena said.

"You can't go anywhere right now," Silas said, pointing to the monitor. "Look."

He pulled up a police scanner feed.

**"Suspect vehicle located. 2005 Chevrolet Silverado. Abandoned at the downtown marina. Setting up perimeter."**

"They found the truck," Elena said.

"They're sweeping the docks," Silas said. "You have maybe five minutes before they knock on my door."

He stood up and went to a metal cabinet. He pulled out a heavy, waterproof bag.

"Take this. There's a burner phone inside, pre-loaded with secure apps. Cash. And a change of clothes."

He handed her the bag.

"How do I get out?"

Silas pointed to a trapdoor in the floor of the houseboat.

"The hull has a maintenance hatch. It opens directly into the water. You'll have to swim under the pier to the next dock. There's a fishing trawler called the *Sea Witch*. The captain owes me a favor. He's leaving for a shrimping run in ten minutes. Get on that boat."

Elena looked at the trapdoor. The water below would be black, oily, and terrifying.

"Thank you, Silas."

"Don't thank me," he said, sitting back down at his console. "Just make sure my father didn't die for nothing."

Elena opened the hatch. The smell of brine and diesel wafted up. She slipped into the water. It was cold, shocking her system.

She swam. She stayed under the pilings, navigating by feel, the barnacles scraping her hands. Above her, she could hear boots thudding on the wood. Voices. Dogs.

She reached the *Sea Witch*. The engine was already rumbling. She pulled herself up the ladder at the stern, collapsing onto the deck behind a stack of crab pots.

The boat lurched away from the dock.

Elena lay there, shivering, watching the marina recede. She saw police lights flashing near Silas’s houseboat. She saw figures running down the pier.

But they were too late.

She checked the waterproof bag. The phone was dry.

She had a destination. She had a name.

Liam Hawthorne.

But first, she had a date with a tuition payment.

She opened the banking app on the new phone. She still had her login for the household accounts. Constance hadn't changed it yet—she was too busy dealing with the fallout of the "breakdown."

Elena logged in.

**Access Granted.**

She went to the trust fund account. The one labeled *Maya Education*.

It should have had enough for a full year at the Sorbonne. Two hundred thousand dollars.

She clicked *View Balance*.

The screen loaded.

**Balance: $0.00.**

Elena stared at the zeros.

Then she saw the transaction history.

**Withdrawal: $200,000.00.**
**Date: Yesterday.**
**Authorized by: Trustee Elena Hawthorne.**

They hadn't just framed her for the big loan. They had drained Maya’s tuition too. And they had used her digital signature to do it.

The notification popped up on the screen.

**Overdraft Alert: Tuition Payment Declined.**

It wasn't just theft. It was cruelty. They were going to let Maya be expelled, let her be humiliated, and they were going to blame it on Elena.

*See?* Constance would say. *She's unstable. She gambled it all away.*

Elena gripped the phone.

They wanted a villain?

Fine. She would be the villain.

But she wasn't going to be the one they expected.