Chapter 429
St. Gabriel Reform Academy always secured compromising leverage before granting patronage-insurance against loose tongues. But Vincent had already lost his mind. Madness recognized no restraint. What secret remained sacred in delirium?
Rumors began spreading about St. Gabriel Reform Academy began to spread.
Though a madman’s ravings normally drew no notice, police connected them to missing persons cases and human trafficking cases. As a result, St. Gabriel Reform Academy came under police scrutiny.
Years of operating in shadows had honed the academy’s evasion tactics. But this time, their choreographed dance with investigators faltered-feints failed, misdirection crumbled.
Austin had shielded Emily from his scheming. Only when the men of St. Gabriel Reform Academy appeared at her door did she discover his Vincent gambit.
Emily knew it was still not the right time. Premature confrontation served no one. So she followed them to meet with that so-called teacher, Brady.
Brady seemed to think she was still easy to push around, and jumped straight in with an accusation. “You swore silence to the grave. Who did you tell?”
Emily’s pulse spiked. ‘had they uncovered something? Then she saw the trap in his probing stare. A fishing expedition. She furrowed her brow. “What’s happened?” No denial, only artful confusion-the portrait of ignorance.
Suspicion glinted in his eyes. “Vincent’s been babbling the academy’s secrets and got us on the cops’ radar. You knew nothing?”
Genuine shock flashed across her face. Austin had concealed it. After a brief pause, she shot him a cold smile. “Your guest. His broken mind. Why blame me for your failures?”
Brady dissected her micro-expressions. No tells. ‘Did we really get it wrong?’ he thought to himself.
In truth, they’d monitored Vincent closely, just in case he let something slip. After all, Vincent had lost his mind and knew their secrets.
But even with all that surveillance, the scandal still leaked out, and several of their cleanup operations had failed. Clearly, someone was manipulating events.
In decades of the academy’s operation, Emily alone escaped their control. She was their only living threat. That was why they’d sent someone to test her today. But at this point, it really looked like Emily had nothing to do with it after all.
Brady still wasn’t ready to give up. He layered verbal traps. Emily parried each with blank denials. Defeated, he turned to leave, pausing at the threshold. “That tongue stays silent,” he hissed. “Or we’ll cut it out.”
Emily didn’t respond. Not a muscle flickered. Only when his shadow vanished did she crumple, air rasping in her lungs like shrapnel. The academy’s brand still burned her psyche. Only its ashes would cauterize the wound.
In that breathless void, conviction solidified. The path was long, victory improbable, but she’d already outlived her expected
end.
Jackson’s stolen time fueled her audacity. Even if she ended up dying at the hands of St. Gabriel Reform Academy, she figured she’d already lucked out by getting a few more years to live.
This vengeance was hers to claim. Of course she wouldn’t leave it all up to Austin. She’d spent two years there, and she knew a lot more about the place than Austin did. She would be his shadow strategist.
1/2
Half a year passed. During that time, Emily and Austin had caused quite a bit of trouble for St. Gabriel Reform Academy.
But St. Gabriel Reform Academy was no pushover. No matter how careful Emily and Austin were, their covers frayed. identities exposed. Undoubtedly, Calvin had a hand in it.
They’d expected exposure. Therefore, traps might grow harder to spring, yet fear never touched them.
St. Gabriel Reform Academy, however, embraced scorched-earth vengeance, ready to immolate itself to destroy Emily. So during this time, Emily barely left the house. She became a ghost in her own home.
The siege atmosphere clung to Emily like static. Even Lucas-oblivious yet persistent-felt its weight. His unanswered pleas to reconnect spanned months, fueling vicious clashes with his embittered mother.
Grace’s downfall was brutal. Once celebrated at galas, Emma now changed her stroke-crippled husband’s soiled sheets, enduring pitying sneers. At first, she might feel guilty toward Emily, but gradually, her guilt curdled into blame, all aimed at Emily.
If Emily hadn’t taken over the company and made Gale so angry he had a stroke, if she hadn’t insisted on going against the Bennett family, they would never have fallen this far.
But Lucas still carried a heavy sense of guilt toward Emily. He clung to the hope their family could return to what it once. was. All it would take was for Emily to see how genuine their intentions were.
For six months, through storms and sun, he’d stalked every path to Emily. But Emily refused to see him at all. Even on rare occasions when he caught a glimpse of her, her bodyguards would ruthlessly throw him out.
After so long, as his resolve frayed, someone from St. Gabriel Reform Academy found him. He slid a tablet across the table. Andrew’s face filled the screen.
“We detained this guy per agreement, but she’s been behind on her payments for months. We just want to have a little chat with her about it,” they said. “But she won’t see us. You’re her brother. You can help us out, can’t you?”
Lucas stared, gut-punched. Horror split between the accusation and Andrew’s ruin. He wore rags, hair matted, face scrubbed raw above a collar of bruises. A leash bit into his neck. Starvation and terror had whittled him to bone.
The leash-holder laughed, boot grinding Andrew’s spine into mud. Andrew scrabbled, shoving a filth-caked sausage into his mouth with feral, jaw-unhinged hunger-a starved animal devouring slop.
