(Emery’s POV)
The files on Aiden’s drive weren’t just damaging.
They were devastating.
Names.
Dates.
Transactions.
Photos.
Proof of a shadow network that had run quietly beneath Halston and its elite donors for almost fifteen years. It wasn’t just Luca’s father. Or Aiden’s. Or Wyatt.
It was judges. Coaches. Professors.
And at the center of it all—
her mother.
Not as a conspirator.
As the one person who tried to bring it down.
⸻
Emery stared at the final folder on the drive.
“Fallout_EmeryCarter”
She opened it.
Inside: a single video.
Her mother. Grainy footage. Speaking into a handheld recorder.
“If anything happens to me, I need them to know I tried. I have everything. I’ve sent copies to an outside source. If you’re watching this… the rest is up to you.”
She was weari
