Chapter 50 The shattered crown
Chapter 50: The Shattered Crown (Liam’s POV)
I had done it. I had actually done it.
When I saw that "100%" next to my name, I felt like I could fly. I didn't need the answers. I didn't need a cheat sheet. I had used my own brain, and for the first time in my life, the victory felt clean. I looked at Elena, and the pride in her eyes was worth more than any trophy I had ever won on the ice. I was ready to walk up to her, pick her up, and tell her that we were going to be okay.
Then the man in the suit stepped out.
The world went from color to gray in a heartbeat. Mr. Henderson’s face turned into stone as he looked at the photos. The silence in the hallway was deafening. Every student who had just been cheering was now leaning in, their eyes wide, their phones coming out to record the fall of the King.
"Vance. Marycynthia. My office. Now."
Henderson’s voice didn't shake. It was cold. Final.
I looked at Elena. She looked like she had been struck by lightning. Her face was pale, and she was gripping her cane so hard her knuckles were turning blue. I wanted to reach for her, to tell her I’d handle it, but I knew that any move I made right now would only make the photos look truer.
We walked into the office. The air smelled like old coffee and disappointment. Henderson sat behind his desk and spread the photos out like a winning hand of poker.
"Explain this," Henderson said.
I looked at the pictures. They weren't "spicy" in the way Chloe probably hoped, but in a school with strict rules about tutor-student conduct, they were enough. There was the shot of me leaning close to her. The shot of our foreheads touching. The one where I was holding her hand. Out of context, it didn't look like studying. It looked like a deal.
"We were studying, sir," I said. My voice was steady, but I could feel the heat rising in my neck. "Everything you see there was just... a moment of stress. It wasn't what it looks like."
"It looks like a romantic entanglement, Vance," Henderson snapped. "And at Northview, a tutor is forbidden from having a personal relationship with their student. It compromises the integrity of the grade. People are already whispering that she gave you the answers. That she stole them for you."
"She didn't!" I shouted, slamming my hand on the desk. "She worked me to the bone! I earned that grade!"
"And how do I prove that?" Henderson asked. "If these photos go to the board, they won't care about your hard work. They’ll see a girl from the estate and a boy with a trust fund, and they’ll assume the worst. They’ll disqualify your grade, Liam. And they’ll revoke her scholarship for 'unprofessional conduct.'"
I felt a cold shiver go down my spine. This was exactly what my father wanted. He didn't care if I passed or failed; he just wanted Elena gone.
Elena finally spoke. Her voice was small, but it was sharp. "Mr. Henderson, you know me. You know I would never risk my future for a boy. Not even this one."
I winced at the "not even this one," but I knew why she said it. She was trying to save herself.
"I want to believe you, Elena," Henderson said, sighing. "But these photos were delivered by a private firm. They’re already being sent to the principal’s office. Unless there is proof that this relationship is a lie, I have to report this."
The door to the office burst open. Maya walked in, her face red, her breathing heavy. She didn't wait for an invitation.
"It is a lie!" Maya shouted.
"Ms. Harris, out!" Henderson barked.
"No!" Maya stood right next to Elena, looking Henderson in the eye. "You want proof? I was there the whole time. I’m the 'official' witness for their study sessions. Those photos? They’re cropped. Chloe’s investigator cut me out of the frame to make it look like they were alone."
She pulled out her phone and slid it across the desk. "I took my own photos. Every single day. I took them because I knew Chloe would try something like this. Look at the timestamps, Mr. Henderson. Look at the wide shots."
Henderson picked up the phone. I leaned in, my heart racing. Maya had photos of the three of us. In every shot where I was leaning close to Elena, Maya was right there in the background, making a funny face or drinking a soda. It didn't look like a secret romance anymore. It looked like three kids cramming for a test.
"And there's more," Maya said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous hiss. "I saw Chloe’s brother, Jax, talking to that investigator in the parking lot this morning. They were laughing about 'setting the bait.' If you punish them, you’re just doing exactly what a bunch of bullies want you to do."
Henderson looked at Maya’s phone for a long time. Then he looked at the private investigator’s photos. He gathered Chloe’s pictures into a pile and tossed them into the trash can next to his desk.
"Get out," Henderson said.
"Sir?" I asked.
"Not you three," Henderson said, looking at me. "I’m talking to the man in the suit standing outside my door. Tell the Millers that their 'evidence' is trash. And tell the principal that I stand by these grades 100%."
The man in the suit disappeared from the window.
I felt a wave of relief so strong I had to sit down. We had won. Maya had actually saved us.
"Thank you, sir," Elena whispered.
"Don't thank me," Henderson said. "Thank your friend. She’s smarter than all of us combined. Now, get out of here before I change my mind."
We walked out of the office. The hallway was still crowded, but the vibe had changed. The news that the "scandal" had been tossed out was already spreading. Chloe was nowhere to be seen. She had lost.
We made it to the parking lot. The sun was setting, casting long, golden shadows across the pavement.
"Maya, I don't know what to say," I said, looking at the girl who had just saved my life. "You’re a genius."
"I’m a girl who likes to take pictures," Maya joked, but she looked proud. "And I don't like seeing my friends get bullied. But don't get too happy, Vance. Your father isn't going to be happy about this."
"I don't care," I said. I looked at Elena. "I'm going to tell him tonight. I'm going to tell him that I passed, that the merger is fine, but that he’s never going to touch your family again. I have the leverage now. If I tell the press that the Vance family tried to frame a scholarship student, it’ll ruin the merger faster than a failing grade ever could."
Elena looked at me. For the first time, she didn't look scared. She didn't look like a "ghost." She looked like she finally believed me.
"You’d do that?" she asked. "You’d risk the merger for me?"
"In a heartbeat," I said.
I reached for her hand, and this time, I didn't care who was watching. I squeezed her fingers, and she squeezed back.
We walked toward the bus stop together, the three of us. But as we got closer, I saw a familiar car. It wasn't my father’s sedan. It was an old, beat-up truck I recognized from the estate.
It was Elena’s mother. She was sitting in the driver’s seat, her bags packed in the back. She was crying.
"Elena! Liam!" she sobbed as we ran to the window. "We have to go. Your father... he didn't wait for the test results. He called the police. He said I stole the Miller family’s heirloom watch while I was cleaning. They’re on their way to the basement right now with a warrant."
My stomach dropped. My father hadn't played the school game. He had played the criminal one.