8. Ryan #3
“Looks like it. There’s an aviation service authorization and ground transportation on the other end.”
“Of course there is.” Ally sounds exhausted now. Not shocked. Just fucking tired.
Becca scrolls again. “Residential policies. Campus access. Visitor approval…” She stops. Her mouth tightens.
“What now?”
“Personal devices are restricted during initial intake.”
Ally looks at her. “They take my phone?”
“Looks like students surrender devices during orientation.” Becca reads farther. “Outside contact is restricted during the adjustment period. Family-approved contacts.”
She looks up. “This isn’t school. He wants me somewhere I don’t know anyone. Somewhere none of you can just come get me. Somewhere he controls who I talk to.” Her eyes drop to the screen. “And he leaves Tobias here.”
There it is. The leash. Always the fucking leash.
I crouch in front of her. “Look at me, baby. We know now.”
Her eyes fill. “That doesn’t stop him.”
“No. But yesterday we didn’t know this plan existed. Roman did.” I point at the phone. “Today we have every fucking page.”
Becca nods. “And your dad doesn’t know that.”
I open the group chat.
confirmed. transfer is ally.
boarding school.
switzerland.
The responses explode.
Kaid: What?
X: call me.
Danny: SWITZERLAND?
Cat: Ryan, are you serious?
Iz: what the fuck
Penny: oh my god
I send the pages showing the school.
don’t call. don’t move. roman does not know we know.
Kaid: Understood.
X: what do you need
Same question Kaid asked. Same answer I always fucking love them for. Not are you okay? Not what happens now? What do you need?
I look at Ally. Her fingers are still resting protectively over our baby. “Arthur.”
She looks at me. “What?”
“We need Arthur.”
Becca nods. “And Walter.”
“All the dads.”
Ally’s eyes widen slightly. “Ryan—“
“Roman just created documentation that he’s planning to remove you from the country.” I hold her gaze. “We’re not sitting on that.”
“What if they still can’t do anything?”
The question lands hard because last night I couldn’t give her a date. This morning, I still can’t. And Switzerland doesn’t magically fix the Tobias problem. I refuse to pretend it does.
“Then we find out what it gives us.”
I forward the photographs to Dad. Then Arthur.
Roman signed these at Edgewood this morning. Ally was not told. He does not know we have copies.
Dad calls before I can even put the phone down. I answer. “Hey.”
“What the fuck am I looking at?”
“Roman came to school this morning. Signed a transfer request.”
“For Switzerland.”
“Apparently.”
“Does Ally know?”
I look directly at her. “She’s with me.”
“Ryan, how did you get these?”
“Do you actually want that answer?”
“No.”
“Great.”
A second voice comes through in the background. Arthur. Of course. Dad must already have him. “Ryan?”
“Hey, Arthur.”
“I’m looking at the transfer authorization. I need time to go through every page. Give me the afternoon.”
“And then?”
“Then we talk about Switzerland.”
The call ends. For a few seconds, the room is quiet.
Becca is the first one to speak. “I fucking hate Switzerland.”
Ally looks at her. “You’ve been to Switzerland.”
“Several times.”
“And you liked it.”
“Not anymore.” A tiny laugh slips out of Ally.
Becca folds her arms. “I’m serious. Fuck Switzerland.” Becca points at her. “And fuck their chocolate too.”
That does it. Ally laughs. A real one. “Okay, now you’ve gone too far.”
“I am prepared to make sacrifices.”
“You love Swiss chocolate.”
“Not anymore. Sanctions.”
I snort. “Sanctions?”
“Immediate and devastating.”
“Against chocolate.”
“And watches.”
Ally wipes beneath one eye. “You don’t even wear a watch.”
“Exactly. Their economy is already crumbling.”
I shake my head. “Little Miss International Relations over here starting a trade war.”
Becca looks at me. “I prefer targeted economic pressure.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“You’re welcome.”
For maybe ten seconds, the room feels normal again. Then Ally looks down at the paperwork. The smile fades. “Ryan.”
“Yeah?”
“What if this is why Victor wanted lunch yesterday? What if Dad wasn’t deciding anything?
” she continues. “What if it was already decided?” Becca goes still.
Ally looks at me. “What if yesterday wasn’t about whether Victor wanted to marry me?
” My stomach turns. “What if it was about what happens between now and June?”
There it is. The question we can’t answer in this room. Not yet.
I pick up my phone and look at the school name again.
L’Institut Sainte-Catherine. Vevey, Switzerland.
Roman had an entire folder prepared before he walked into Edgewood this morning.
This wasn’t impulsive. It wasn’t punishment for Ally getting mouthy at lunch yesterday.
It wasn’t a father deciding overnight that he disliked his daughter’s friends.
The paperwork alone proves that. Whatever Switzerland is — Roman has been planning it.
And yesterday, Victor Tremblay sat beside my girlfriend with his hand on her knee, discussed their wedding, discussed the children he expects her to give him, and then boarded a private plane with Roman. Today Roman walked into Edgewood and started the process of removing Ally from the country.
I look at her. “We’re going to figure out why.”
Her eyes stay on mine. “And if we don’t like the answer?”
I pick up my phone. Around us, nine people are already waiting for the next instruction. Arthur has the paperwork. Dad has the paperwork. Roman has no fucking idea any of us know. “Then we become a much bigger problem.”
And for the first time since Penny sent that text at lunch, Ally smiles.
By four thirty, Arthur’s dining-room table has disappeared beneath paper.
Every page I photographed at Edgewood has been printed.
Some twice. Arthur has two laptops open, Mom has one, and there are legal pads, coffee cups, phones, and folders spread between them.
Nobody has gone home to change. Nobody has asked how long this is going to take. Arthur called, and everybody came.
Callum and Saoirse. Thomas. Kaid and Cat. Gideon, Alice, Penny, and X. Clifford, Louise, Delilah, Danny, and Becca. Theodore and Katya. Mom and Dad. Darla and Iz. And me.
Ally is the only one who isn’t here. She went home after school because that’s what she’s supposed to do.
Pretend. Pretend she didn’t see Roman at Edgewood this morning.
Pretend she doesn’t know he signed paperwork withdrawing her.
Pretend April sixth means nothing to her.
Pretend she isn’t being sent to Switzerland.
My phone vibrates against the table.
Ally: Tobias says broccoli isn’t food because it’s a tree
I stare at the message. Across from me, Arthur is opening another file.
he’s right
Ally: no he isn’t
don’t silence young scientists
Ally: you’re encouraging him
obviously
Three dots appear.
Ally: traitor
Ally: anything yet?
That one wipes the smile off my face. I look at the papers covering Arthur’s table.
we’re going through it now
Ally: okay. tell me when you know something?
always
I put my phone facedown. Arthur waits until I look up. “I spent the afternoon looking into Sainte-Catherine.”
“You could’ve called me.” Delilah says it while scrolling through something on her phone.
Arthur looks down the table. “Why would I have called you?”
“Because I could’ve saved you two hours.”
Danny turns toward his sister. “Oh, Jesus.”
Louise hides a smile behind her coffee. Arthur, apparently deciding to indulge her, folds his hands.
“All right. Tell me about Sainte-Catherine.”
Delilah sets down her phone. “It’s a boarding school.”
“We’ve established that.”
“A very expensive boarding school.”
“Also established.”
“In Switzerland.”
Danny groans. “Del.”
“I’m building atmosphere.”
“Build faster.”
She gives him the finger without even looking at him.
“It’s legit. Excellent academics. Gorgeous campus.
Very old money. Very international. Diplomats’ daughters, celebrities’ daughters, billionaires’ daughters, royalty-adjacent daughters who are technically just rich but really enjoy pretending otherwise. ”
Theodore nods slowly. “I know the school.”
Delilah points at him. “See? Theodore gets it.”
Becca looks at her father. “You’ve been there?”
“No. I’ve known people whose daughters attended.”
Arthur watches Delilah. “So why did you say you could’ve saved me two hours?”
“Because you’re looking for something wrong with the school. There isn’t.” She says it with complete certainty.
Arthur’s eyebrows rise. “You seem confident.”
“I know girls who’ve gone there.”
Danny frowns. “We know girls who went to boarding school in Switzerland?”
Delilah gives him a pitying look. “Danny, you spend most of high school either in a laboratory or committing felonies with your friends. Our social experiences have not been the same.”
Delilah continues before he can answer. “Sainte-Catherine is a very good school. That’s part of why it works.”
Saoirse looks up from Ally’s paperwork. “Works for what?”
Delilah hesitates then she waves one manicured hand. “Scandals.” Mom immediately reaches for her pen. Delilah sees it. “Cassandra.”
“What?”
“You cannot quote me.”
“I’m not writing an article.”
“You’re always writing an article in your heart.”
Dad coughs into his fist. Mom gives him a look.
Arthur says, “What kind of scandals?”
“All kinds.” Delilah sits back. “Nudes get leaked. Sex tapes. Somebody gets caught sleeping with somebody they really shouldn’t be sleeping with.
Drugs. Addiction. A famous kid gets arrested.
Parents have a spectacularly ugly divorce and suddenly their daughter is being followed by photographers.
Family financial scandal. Pregnancy. Somebody has a breakdown in public. Whatever.”
“Jesus,” Danny mutters.
“What? Rich people are messy.”
Iz looks around the table. “Breaking news.”
Delilah ignores him. “The point isn’t that every girl there has some dark secret. Most don’t. It’s a normal elite boarding school. But if something does happen, it’s one of the places families like ours know about.”
“Why?” Gideon asks.