The School Assembly
Chapter 09 - The School Assembly
Emma returned to school under a temporary name while the investigation continued.
Her classmates had seen the mansion video online.
Some treated her like a celebrity.
Others whispered that she had become rich.
Emma disliked both.
At a school assembly, the principal planned to introduce her as “the brave Blackwood heiress.”
Emma refused to go on stage.
“I’m not an heiress,” she told Adrian. “I’m a kid who missed math.”
Adrian asked the principal to cancel the introduction.
The school instead announced new safeguards for children removed from class for private work or caregiving.
Emma returned to her desk.
She failed the first math quiz.
Adrian offered a tutor.
She chose the school’s free after-class program.
Normal embarrassment felt safer than public praise.
Meanwhile, Victor Shaw contacted investigators.
He offered Lillian’s location in exchange for immunity.
Detective Ortiz refused full immunity but promised to present cooperation to prosecutors.
Victor revealed that Lillian was being held inside an unfinished Blackwood children’s hospital.
The building appeared abandoned after funding “ran out.”
In reality, its underground floor operated as a private records center and clinic.
Charles kept witnesses there under false identities.
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Lillian had entered voluntarily months earlier to retrieve evidence.
She never came out.
