Chapter 3 - What Mia Knew
Lauren came back upstairs without her suitcase.
"What is this about?"
Dad held up the phone.
"Claire's school account."
For half a second, Lauren looked scared.
Then offended.
"You're accusing us because of an email?"
"I'm asking who accessed it."
Mia appeared behind her.
Her eyes went straight to my laptop.
That was enough for me.
"You changed my password."
"I didn't."
"You knew my recovery code."
"So did Mom."
Lauren snapped, "Mia."
Dad heard it too.
He stepped between them and me.
"Nobody leaves until we know what happened."
Lauren laughed. "Five minutes ago you told us to pack."
"Now I'm telling you to sit down."
We went to the kitchen.
Dad called the school's technology administrator. They could not give him everything over the phone, but they confirmed the account had been accessed from two devices besides mine.
One was a family iPad.
The other was Mia's laptop.
Mia started crying instantly.
"I only logged in once."
Dad's voice stayed flat. "Why?"
"I wanted to see her scholarship essay."
"Why?"
"Because everybody acts like she's perfect."
I stared at her.
"So you canceled my interview?"
"No!"
Lauren grabbed Mia's hand.
"Stop answering questions like this is a police station."
Dad looked at her. "Then maybe stop acting like the truth is dangerous."
Mia finally admitted she had read my essay.
She also admitted sending one message from my account months ago.
Not the scholarship withdrawal.
A message telling Mrs. Alvarez that Dad preferred all school updates to go through Lauren.
My stomach twisted.
"Why would you do that?"
Mia looked at her mother.
Lauren went pale.
Dad noticed.
"What did you tell her to send?"
Lauren stood.
"This is ridiculous."
Dad blocked the doorway.
"Sit down."
For the first time since marrying her, he sounded like he was no longer asking.
Mia whispered, "Mom said Claire was going to leave us all behind anyway."
I blinked.
"What?"
Mia looked at me, angry through tears.
"She said once you got the scholarship, Dad would spend everything on you and there'd be nothing left for me."
Dad's face went still.
May you like
Then Lauren said the sentence that changed the direction of the whole morning.
"There already is almost nothing left.
