Chris didn't take the bus home after school.He came through the main gate and turned left instead of right, heading into the commercial stretch of road that ran along the edge of the campus neighbourhood … the strip of small businesses, fast food spots, convenience stores and local shops that existed partly because a school was nearby and students needed things.He walked slowly and paid attention.A handwritten card in the window of a sandwich shop. “Staff Wanted. Flexible Hours. Enquire Inside.” He stopped and photographed the number.A printed sign taped to the glass door of a pizza place two doors down. “Now Hiring Part-Time. No Experience Necessary.” He saved that one too.He kept walking.A grocery mart near the end of the block had a notice board just inside the entrance visible from the street. He went in, scanned it, and wrote down two numbers from separate cards, one for shelf stocking shifts and one for checkout cover.He crossed the road and came back on the other side.

Chris woke up clear-headed.No lingering tiredness from the night before, no slow start. He was dressed and out of the apartment, moving with the focused energy of someone who knew exactly what the day needed from them.He came through the iron gate and noticed Tyler's absence without registering it as significant. Emily too. The corridor felt different without the constant background awareness of where those two were and what they might be doing. Lighter. More room to think.He went to his first class, sat through it, and took notes.When the bell rang for first break, he did not go to the cafeteria.He went straight to the administration building.Hargrove's secretary looked up when he walked in, recognised him, and asked him to wait. He sat in the chair outside the office and waited without checking his phone, without fidgeting, without doing any of the things people do in waiting rooms when they are uncertain about what is on the other side of the door.He was not uncertain.Thre

The waiting room outside Sandra's office was small and deliberately unremarkable Two chairs, a low table with nothing on it, and a window that looked onto the building's interior courtyard. Chris sat in the left chair and waited.He could hear muffled voices through the door. Sandra's measured tone, another voice asking questions. A client meeting running long.He didn't mind waiting. He had his notebook.He went through his investment notes again, cross-referencing what he had learned from the videos last night against Marcus's recommended order. He made a few additions, corrected one thing he had misunderstood about payout ratios, and added three questions to ask Marcus at their next meeting.Thirty-two minutes after he arrived, the office door opened.A man in his fifties came out, briefcase in hand, nodding briefly at Chris without curiosity. Sandra appeared in the doorway behind him, saw Chris, and held the door open."Come in," she said.He sat in the guest chair on the side o

"Tyler was involved directly," Chris said."Him and his group. They were the ones who planted the evidence and reported it. His father used the board to fast-track the dismissal. Maybe they were used by his father to do the job, but they are also involved." He paused. "Are they part of the case?" He asked"Everyone who participated in the process that led to your wrongful dismissal is a potential defendant or witness," Sandra said without hesitation. "Tyler, his associates who were present and involved, and his father in his capacity as board chair. " She looked at her notepad. "The chain of liability runs from the students who fabricated the evidence to the board members who accepted and acted on it without proper process. Everyone in that chain has exposure.""Tyler's father is a senator; he can simply get his way out because of his position in government," Chris said."His Senate seat does not protect him from civil liability for actions taken in his capacity as a private board

Chris had been watching Tyler all morning.Not obviously. Not the way Tyler watched him, direct, threatening, designed to be noticed. Chris watched the way he had learnt to watch things at Virell, which was from the periphery, catching information without appearing to collect it.Tyler and Emily came in together and went to their seats without looking in his direction once. That was the tell. Tyler always looked. They walked to their seats and sat down, and Chris ignored them completely.It was discipline.Tyler sat down, stealing occasional glances at Chris, even though he did really look unbotheredWhich meant something was being prepared that required Tyler to appear unbothered.Chris went through two classes and kept his face exactly as it always was.The first break came.He was mid-conversation on the phone, texting with Jordan about the jobs, when he saw it from the corner of his eye. Tyler standing up casually, saying something to his group, and then walking out. Dominic st