Chapter 178 The Final Pieces

Chapter 178 The Final Pieces
Aveline's POV

Daphne met me by the front gates after the last bell. The courtyard was completely empty now, and the sound of the police cars was fading down the main avenue.

"They have a witness, Aveline," Daphne said, stopping right in front of me. "One of the freshmen went to the state police this morning. He was so scared to say anything before because of Silas, but after the police started pulling people into the wing for interviews, he finally came forward. He saw Theo and Asher in the locker room during the first intermission. He saw him spike Oliver's bottle after Asher left."

I looked very confused. Since I arrived at Crestwood High, I’ve been reconsidering every name in the varsity lineup, trying to identify who might be involved in this case. I never suspected Theo; he always seemed like the quiet type, Asher’s best friend, which made me feel comfortable. I remembered Kieran warning me not to trust him. Kieran was right about Theo from the beginning. Theo wasn’t genuinely trying to help me find the files; he was just trying to see how close I was to discovering his involvement so he could hide what he did.

An hour later, I was called down to the precinct office. The Detective met me in a small side room near the main office. He set his folder down on the table and sat opposite me.

"Theo Mercer gave us a full statement twenty minutes after we brought him in," the detective said, sliding a typed summary across the table "I want you to understand the situation, Miss Carter. He didn't know anything about the betting operation your brother was running on the network. He didn't even have an account on the platform."

"Then why did he do it?" I asked.

"He knew Asher was being bullied by Oliver and the rest of the team," Vance said. "He thought Asher wanted to use the supplement pills from his bag to get back at Oliver before the second period started. Theo took the pill from Asher, but he took the situation further than Asher ever intended. He altered the dose. He wanted Oliver to lose the game and end his winning streak of the season so the recruitment would look at the rest of the roster. He didn't realize the concentration would cause a medical collapse until Oliver went down."

I looked out the window at the parking lot. I wanted a clean answer. Instead, I got my brother back in pieces. The truth was far more complicated than the story I had built in my head. My brother wasn't completely innocent; his betting setup had brought the drugs into the building in the first place. He had a hand in the system that broke Oliver. But he wasn't the person who deliberately tried to paralyze his teammate.

Theo had used Asher's desperation as a cover to clear his own path to a starting spot, then spent the spring trying to bury his trace before anyone could find out.

"There's more," Detective Vance added, turning a page. "The state police picked up Silas and Barrett this morning. They're being charged over an assault. The investigators also believe what happened that night played a role in what followed with Asher's suicide."

Hearing the names out loud didn't bring my brother back. It didn't change the empty room at home. But a heavy weight left my shoulders. The people who had pushed Asher into the dark couldn't pretend nothing happened anymore. They weren't going to walk across a graduation stage while my family carried the weight of their choices.

The detective pulled out a final legal brief. "Because of Asher’s role in starting the digital betting network and bringing the unregulated substances into the locker room, your family is required to pay a set amount of compensation to the Thorne family for Oliver's medical care."

I nodded. I understood why the order was made. Oliver was still paralyzed, always in and out of the hospital because of a chain of events that started in our home. Asher carried a share of that responsibility, and our family had to carry it too. The truth didn't mean we got off clean; it just meant everyone finally had to pay for their exact piece of the wreckage.

When I walked out the doors of the station, I stood outside, taking a long breath. Since everything was revealed, I experienced a quiet sense of relief. I had spent months wearing a binder, changing my voice, and waiting for the next scan to reveal me. I did it because I couldn't bear the idea of Asher being remembered simply as a fraud who brought about a tragedy. I fought for my brother and managed to clear the parts of his name that mattered. I had actually stood up and fought for him.

The investigation was over. Finally, Cassian had gotten his Answers. He didn't have to spend every day of his life looking for another person to blame. We could both finally stop fighting the line and grieve the people we had lost.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing an official email from the Crestwood administrative board.

Administrative Review Notice: Suspension Lifted.
The text was short and formal. Based on the findings of the state police report and the completion of the legal audit, the school board was officially lifting my suspension.

I was permitted to return for the final graduation exercise, finish my remaining exam packets, and graduate with my fellow classmate next week.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and walked toward the street. I had lost the scholarship opportunity, and the hockey records were still gone. I knew I would have to figure out what came next, but for once, I wasn't afraid of it. I didn't have to hide behind a mask or a false voice anymore. I was finally free to walk through the gates as myself.