Chapter 61 The Accused
Danielle’s POV
The alarm started screaming across the entire campus before I even finished my morning tea.
“ALL STUDENTS REMAIN IN YOUR ROOMS; THIS IS AN URGENT SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT.”
The dean’s voice boomed out of the campus speakers, rattling the thin window beside my bunk bed.
I jerked upright, heart colliding with my ribs.
Girls scrambled around the hallway, doors slamming, feet pounding.
Something was wrong, terribly wrong.
Then the next announcement shook the entire hostel.
“A breach has been detected in the student records system. The perpetrator must report to the Dean’s office immediately.
Gasps echoed all the way down the corridor.
Someone hacked the school records?
Before I could fully process that, my name punched through the speakers like a fist.
“DANIELLE WILTON. REPORT TO THE DEAN’S OFFICE AT ONCE.”
My blood turned to ice.
“What?” I whispered, frozen halfway between my bed and the door.
Students stopped moving. They stared at me with suspicion..
“Danielle…?” one girl murmured, drawing back slightly, like she suddenly didn’t know me.
My heart stuttered.
Not because I did anything wrong but chaos had a way of sniffing me out even when I was innocent.
Before I could blink again, Liam appeared beside me, slightly out of breath as if he’d run across half the campus.
“Rookie,” he murmured, his brows knitted in concern. “You okay?”
I nodded even though the speaker announcement was still shivering down my spine.
“Would the student DANIELLE WILTON report to the Dean’s office immediately. You are being summoned. Failure to appear will be considered obstruction.”
My stomach dropped so fast it scraped the ground.
“What?” I whispered.
Liam’s eyes widened. “That… that can’t be right.”
People around us turned and stared.
Whispering, judging and probably imagining me in handcuffs like some tech criminal.
“Liam… what’s happening?” I breathed, my voice barely there.
He gently placed a hand on my forearm, warm and grounding. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Just stay calm,”
“And listen, when you get there, stick to your first explanation. Don’t switch your statements, even if they try to twist you. Consistency is power, okay?”
I nodded, even though my knees felt as if they wanted to run straight out of the country.
He walked me all the way to the administrative block, refusing to leave my side.
My mouth itched to tell him how safe I felt with his presence but my lips locked the words tight.
The dean’s office wasn’t an office. It was more like an interrogation chamber.
A long table with four administrators with thick glasses and thicker files.
Two security personnel by the window.
And in the corner, my hostel matron, her arms folded, lips tight as a ruler.
Every pair of eyes snapped to me.
“Miss Wilton,” the head administrator remarked coldly. “Have a seat.”
My feet felt like blocks of ice as I sat.
My hands trembled. I tucked them under the table.
“Miss Wilton,” she began, disappointment dripping from every syllable. “I must say, this is deeply shocking.”
I blinked. “Ma’am, I don’t understand…”
“You don’t understand?” another professor cut in sharply. “You are the student who hacked into the school’s record system.”
My jaw parted. A cold wave shot through me. “I—I what?”
Mrs. Gladys folded her arms. “It’s pointless pretending. We know what you did.”
“I didn’t do anything!” I protested, trembling.
“I don’t even know how to hack anything. I barely know how to change a password properly.”
Well that was a lie but I wasn't going to accept that I'm a tech guru in this situation.
I kept mute and didn't respond to them anymore, the world literally blurred into just my imagination so I could neither see nor hear what they were saying.
“Miss Wilton?” I jerked back into reality.
“Silence means acceptance,” one of the panel members remarked with a slow, satisfied nod.
My breath stilled. I felt faint. My fingers dug into my palms.
I opened my mouth to defend myself but the heavy door suddenly slammed open.
“She is NOT guilty.”
Liam strode in, breathless from speed, his eyes blazing of what I couldn't tell. Every head snapped toward him.
“Mr. Carver, you are not invited,” the dean barked. “Leave before we call security.”
“No.” His voice cut through the air like a blade. “She’s a first-year student. She barely knows how to use the school portal, let alone hack it.”
“Liam,” I whispered, feeling a wave of warmth and fear all at once.
He didn’t look at me, his eyes were fixed sharply on the panel.
“You’re accusing her because it’s easy,” he growled.
“Because she doesn’t have connections here. Because she’s new.”
“This is none of your concern,” the matron snapped.
“It is,” he fired back. “You’re about to ruin her record over nothing.”
The tension cracked like static. The administrators exchanged looks.
Liam had just played badly with fire as if he was tossing a plastic ball.
“Parents or guardians must be contacted immediately,” the dean declared.
My breath hitched.
Liam’s parents were called because he refused to leave the office, still defying the entire system.
And mine…
Mark Simmons and Becca Wilton were on their way.
I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or vanish entirely.
Minutes dragged before the door burst open again.
Mark was the first to appear , his shirt slightly rumpled, hair disheveled, breathing uneven like he’d dressed in a rush.
Becca followed right behind him, her lipstick smudged at the corner of her mouth, foundation creased like she’d wiped it off hastily.
Everyone in the room inhaled sharply. Even Liam.
Heat flushed up my neck.
Great.
Not only was I facing academic execution, now the entire panel thought my guardians had sprinted here straight from… doing adult things.
I bowed my head, dying inside.
“What happened?” Mark demanded, his voice low but deadly calm.
“She hacked the records system,” the dean stated.
Mark’s jaw tightened. “Danielle doesn’t even know how to download a PDF properly. Try again.”
Becca rushed to my side, squeezing my hand gently. “Dani, breathe. It’s okay. We’ll fix this.”
Her comfort nearly broke me.
Meanwhile, Liam stood tall, shoulders squared in silent solidarity.
The tension thickened as the final pair entered.
Liam’s parents.
His mother hurried forward, already apologizing.
His father, however, walked with a slow, deliberate confidence, like someone stepping back into a battlefield he’d once dominated.
The room shifted around him.
He looked at Liam disapprovingly, then turned his attention toward Mark. His face remained blank, but something darker sparked behind his eyes.
Recognition.
Not the pleasant kind.
“Mr. Carver,” the dean greeted awkwardly. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience…”
Liam’s father didn’t answer. He just stared at Mark in a way that made the air tilt sideways.
Finally, he spoke.
“Mark Simmons… so, we meet again.”