Chapter 6 - The Sister’s Eviction — "The 2:00 AM Call from Harvard That Stripped Vanessa of Her Degree!"
By 2:00 AM, the Fairmont ballroom was completely dark. The chandeliers had been turned off, the white roses were wilted and trampled on the marble floor, and the three hundred high-society guests had fled into the Seattle night, their phones buzzing with the first digital headlines from The Seattle Times: BELMONT LOGISTICS TYCOON ARRESTED AT DAUGHTER'S GRADUATION GALA.
I sat in the back of Elias Mercer’s black town car, watching the rain streak across the window as we pulled up to the gates of the Belmont Manor estate in Bellevue.
The house was dark, except for the bright, halogen lights of two police cruisers parked in the circular driveway. Inside the grand foyer, Vanessa’s luxury leather suitcases were piled high near the door. She was sitting on the bottom step of the grand staircase, still wearing her white silk dress, though the bottom of it was stained gray from the kitchen floor.
My mother was sitting on a velvet bench nearby, staring blankly at the wall, her Cartier necklace missing—already logged into an evidence bag by the federal forensic team that had secured the house an hour ago.
"Claire," Vanessa said as I walked into the foyer, her voice completely dead, devoid of any of the old, haughty arrogance. "You think you’ve won? Look at us. The family is gone. Dad is in a federal holding cell in Tacoma. Mom’s accounts are completely frozen. Are you happy now?"
"The family was gone a long time ago, Vanessa," I said, standing beneath the portrait of Grandma Eleanor that hung above the fireplace.
The Final Academic AuditMetricReported StatusActual Verified StatusHarvard GPA3.98 (Summa Cum Laude)1.24 (Academic Probation)Research ThesisPublished in Ivy ReviewGhostwritten by a paid adjunct professor in BostonDegree StatusConferred with HonorsRevoked via emergency board vote at 1:15 AM
My phone buzzed in my hand. It was an email notification from the Office of the Governing Boards at Harvard University.
OFFICIAL NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION:
Following the receipt of certified federal forensic evidence regarding the funding source and authorship verification of the thesis submitted by Vanessa Belmont, the University has initiated immediate revocation proceedings under Section 4 of the Academic Integrity Code. The degree of Master of Arts in Economic History is hereby suspended indefinitely.
I turned the screen toward her.
Vanessa looked at the email. For five long seconds, her eyes didn't blink. Then, a small, choked sound escaped her throat. She dropped her head into her lap, her body shaking with a violent, hysterical sob that seemed to tear through her entire frame.
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"You took everything from me..." she wailed into the empty foyer. "Everything I worked for..."
"You didn't work for it, Vanessa," I said, looking down at her with a pity that felt colder than any anger. "You bought it with a dead woman’s money while she was still alive. You sat at that table tonight and laughed while Dad called me 'dead soil.' But you forgot that dead soil is the only place where roots can actually grow. You were just a cut flower in an expensive vase, Vanessa. The moment the water turned toxic, you were always going to wither."
