The Last Card

"He's about to come back. If he finds out what you've done, the Dawn family—and every one of you—will be finished."

The Adrian Locke I named was my father's oldest friend and a towering figure in our field. He was blunt and incorruptible; academic dishonesty was his greatest contempt.

He'd been working overseas for years, so many people at home didn't even know he and my father were close.

This was my last card.

Grayson and his friends paused for a beat, then burst into louder laughter.

"Professor Adrian Locke? As if. Are you kidding me?" one of them said.

"We checked. Your dad's a loner, a weird guy. Besides you, he has no friends," another added.

"Professor Locke? What's next? Are you going to tell us the Pope's your godfather?"

Maris snorted derisively. "Lucen, have you lost your mind? Are you talking nonsense now? Grayson's already dug through every bit of that AI model's data. Even if the original creator showed up, there'd be nothing for you to gain."

A smug smile crossed her face.

"Oh, and I forgot to tell you. People have already bought what I posted online. Social media's ripping you and your father apart, calling you a disgrace to academia."

She pushed the phone in front of me. The screen was a wall of insults.

'I never thought Benjamin was that kind of man. I used to admire him.'

'Like father, like son. The kid's not worth anything.'

'People like that should be nailed to the wall in disgrace.'

Each hateful line cut a little deeper. I could feel them slicing at me.

I went berserk, throwing myself forward with everything I had and shoved the crowd back. My breathing shook, and the look on my face was that of someone cornered with no way out.

Maris froze at my reaction; her lips twitched. "Grayson, maybe that's enough. We already got what we wanted."

A cruel light flashed in Grayson's eyes. He stepped up close and lowered his voice.

"Lucen, you really don't know, do you? The baby Maris is carrying isn't yours. While you were staying up all night helping your dad sort through his data, she was already in my bed. She said you were too clean—so clean it made her bored."

Malice dripped from him.

"We meant to keep this from you and let you be the unwitting, convenient father. Then, your damned old man found out and wanted to blow the whole thing wide open. Do you think he deserved to live for that? He didn't have a stroke; I had someone give him an injection so he'd never be able to speak again!"

Rage took over. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. With everything I had, I hammered my fist into his face again and again.

It had all been an elaborate setup.

Blood blurred my vision. I couldn't see straight. I only knew I kept striking blindly.

In the chaos, Maris snatched up a vase and brought it down on the back of my head. The world flipped.

The rich kids rushed forward in panic, trying to pry us apart.

"Grayson! Grayson! Are you okay?"

"Finish him! He's gone crazy!"

My head took another blow. They kicked me to the floor; my wrist tore with searing pain. My breath grew shallow. Darkness seeped in around the edges of my mind.

Then, the hospital room door was kicked open.