14. Maxine
CHAPTER 14
maxine
T he key pendant felt heavy against my collarbone as I paced my room, waiting for Sebastian to text back. My friends flew home the morning after my party, but their words kept echoing in my head. The sexual tension was thicker than my AP Calc textbook.
"Where have you been?" I demanded as soon as Sebastian slipped through my door. "I've been going crazy up here."
"Sorry." He ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Brooklyn needed help distracting Dad. He's been hovering around Carlos's old office all evening."
"Did you find anything?"
"Better." Sebastian pulled a folded piece of paper out from his back pocket. "I found this in my dad’s office safe. Look at the date."
I snatched the paper, my heart racing. "Three days before the accident."
"And look who signed it."
"Mom and David." My fingers traced their signatures at the bottom. "What were they doing with Mountain View's assets?"
"That's the thing." Sebastian took a seat on my bed, spreading out more documents around him. "The money vanishes after this transfer. No paper trail, no digital records?—"
A knock at my door made us both freeze.
"Maxine?" Ciara's voice. "Sweetheart, can I come in?"
Sebastian dove into my closet as I shoved the papers under my pillow. "Just a second!" I ran to the mirror and tried to look casual. "Okay, come in!"
Ciara opened the door, still wearing her pool clothes from earlier. "I wanted to talk about your birthday dinner tomorrow. I was thinking"—she stopped and sniffed the air—"is that... cologne?"
"What? No!" My voice came out too high. "I mean, probably just... Brooklyn was in here earlier."
"Brooklyn wears strawberry body spray, not men's cologne." Mom's eyes narrowed as she scanned the room.
"Maybe it's from the party? Lots of people were here."
"Right." She didn't sound convinced. "Anyway, about dinner?—"
A muffled sneeze came from my closet.
Mom's face went pale. "Maxine, who's in there?"
"No one! It's just..."
Sebastian chose that moment to stumble out, hitting his head on the door frame. "Ow."
"Sebastian." Ciara's voice was so cold; it could freeze hell. "What are you doing in my daughter's room?"
"Would you believe studying?" He tried for a charming smile.
"At eleven at night? In her closet?"
"The lighting is really good in there?"
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing despite the tension. He was such a terrible liar.
"Both of you, downstairs. Now." Mom's hands were shaking slightly as she turned away. "And bring whatever you were hiding under that pillow."
As soon as she was gone, I turned to Sebastian. "Really? The lighting is good in my closet?"
"I panicked!" He rubbed his head where he hit it. "You try coming up with a brilliant excuse while surrounded by your shoes."
"At least I don't own three identical black hoodies."
"They're different blacks!" he protested, then grew serious. "What do we do about the papers?"
I touched Dad's key pendant again. "We hide them. Mom's already suspicious enough?—"
"Maxine! Sebastian!" Mom's voice carried up the stairs.
"Coming!" I called back, then lowered my voice. "Meet me in the stables tomorrow morning? Early?"
He nodded, squeezing my hand. "Be careful. I don't like how dad's been watching us lately."
"You too." I resisted the urge to kiss him, very aware of Mom waiting downstairs. "And Sebastian? Thanks for the key. It's perfect."
His smile made my heart flip. "Happy birthday, Max."
We headed downstairs where Ciara was waiting with her arms crossed. I could see the questions in her eyes, the fear she was trying to hide. She knew we were onto something. The trick would be figuring out how much she knew before she and David could stop us.
"So." Ciara's voice was artificially light. "Would either of you like to explain what's really going on?"
I exchanged glances with Sebastian. Time to put our acting skills to the test.
"Sebastian's been helping me understand the quarterly reports," I said, letting my voice carry just the right mix of earnestness and innocence. It wasn’t entirely a lie—Dad would want me to understand the business inside and out. "You always said how proud Dad was when I took an interest in the company. I thought... I thought maybe you'd be proud too."
I watched the familiar grief wash over Mom’s face. For a moment, she wasn’t David's wife or the grieving widow—just my mom, the one who used to sneak into Dad's study with me when I was little, who'd set me on her lap while Dad explained profit margins.
"Maxine, sweetheart—" Her voice wavered.
"I know you're worried about me," I stepped closer, lowering my voice, willing her to understand what I couldn’t say out loud. "But Dad taught me everything for a reason. He believed in me, Mom. Don't you?"
I reached for her hand, but movement caught my eye. David was watching from his office doorway, his expression sending chills down my spine. There was something calculating in his gaze that made me wonder if we'd already said too much.
Whatever game we were playing, the stakes just got a lot higher.
At least I wasn’t playing it alone. I could feel Sebastian's steady presence behind me, reminding me that while David might have the power right now, we had something he didn’t: the truth about what really happened to dad.