Chapter 13 - The Mentor
Thomas Bell was sixty-eight, elegant, soft-spoken, and famous for making juries trust him within five minutes.
He had found Maya during law school.
He had given her an internship.
He had told her she was brilliant when she still felt like a runaway pretending to belong.
Now she walked into his office knowing he might have helped destroy her mother.
"Close the door," Thomas said.
"You already know?"
"Victor called."
Maya's stomach turned.
Thomas didn't deny it.
Twenty-five years earlier, he had been outside counsel for Calder Industrial. He discovered the pension theft and quietly helped Maya's mother gather evidence.
"Ruiz called you his protection," Maya said.
"Because for three years, I was."
He admitted hiding documents, misleading investigators, and signing privileged memoranda that insulated Victor.
"Then why help my mother?"
"Because I finally understood what I had become."
Thomas tried to flip. Victor threatened Thomas's family. Then Maya's mother died.
Years later Thomas found Maya's name on a scholarship list.
"I hired you because I owed you the truth."
"You hired me and never told me the truth."
His eyes filled with shame. "I told myself I was protecting you."
Maya laughed bitterly. "Amazing how many adults ruined my life while 'protecting' me."
She turned to leave.
Thomas said, "I can prove Victor ordered the intimidation campaign."
She stopped.
He opened a hidden compartment in his desk and removed a flash drive.
"Copies of instructions, payments, private security invoices. Enough to bury him."
Maya reached for it.
The office lights went out.
A second later, the fire alarm screamed.
Smoke rolled beneath the door.
Thomas shoved the drive into Maya's hand.
"Stairwell. Now."
They ran into the hallway.
May you like
At the far end, a masked man stepped through the smoke.
And he was carrying a gasoline can.
