Trust Fund Trouble

ed like a guns

on my arm, firm but not p

o follows that order?" I w

. "Then don't get kille

g like we were in a low-budget horror film. The rows of metal filing cabi

his time paper rustling

as defini

use the flashlight. Alec

ht be watching for

e playing hide and seek in

Half the drawers didn't even close right, and some were held shut with faded strin

her

d caught the briefest shadow

ee that?"

d. "He's n

hat's h

iti

ade it

yond the last row, was a tipped-over lad

one i

I said. "Like..

the box. "These are

Program H 2003.' That's the s

year your mom w

is is what

ay

mething

's what they ca

ou think someone else wa

he door at the far end o

f us f

efinitely

documents and shoved them into

gument

choing way too loud. As we burst into the co

n in there didn

t

nted us

ge re

ani practically tac

u just survived a

obabl

copies Alec made. She flipped

hat even

ons. Money funneled through

croixs really don't believ

at was supposed to go to my mom it wa

igned

part we don'

e end game here? Like, what does someone gain b

Maybe a clean i

hing worse," sh

e the way sh

eathe. No Alec. No Delacroix drama. Just quiet

p. I had exactly 43 minutes before my Econ class

lacroix Foundation +

scrubbed. Obvious PR pl

cached version of an old local news

Program Ends Abr

icke

ely backed by the Delacroix family shut down after "accounting d

ote st

the time. The Foundation declined to

no

d down th

oto, was a young woman

m

ertificate and smiling in that half-hap

e, one of the final recipients

as standing behind me u

art of it,

d you not sneak

ab

ke a crypt

his eyes were sharp.

new ab

something shady. I didn't k

might've been

made my

uron wasn't just about money? What i

e wh

es. Off-record heirs. Peopl

creen again. "The

talked. Maybe y

ne didn't

silence

ed, "Do you t

w wh

to all this. That some

ered. "But if she did,

ly. "Then maybe it's ti

again this time with a small black fla

he said. "But we c

y n

. This thing came from my g

hacke

l left everything to my father. But

ra

t, but something in his postu

nize the numb

"No name. No ID.

mb brushing mine. "We can run it

ting go of the tiny shiver that crawled

es meeting mine.

stion so basic, so hu

unraveling my family's erasure and possibly

I said, "No.

t made his sharp cheekbones a little softer. The kind that ma

ou safe," he

believe him.

y looking over our shoulders. Campus felt too quiet fo

just as I re

e hissed. "Someone

I stop

ssing like, nothing major.

my chest l

," I said, turning ar

the building, arms

ing specific," she said. "The

I'd locked? Pried open. My laptop? M

he paper tra

copy," Alec added. "They do

"Okay, this is officially past

stion finally crash over me. "They know I

ate," Alec said

a brow.

e scared of what

m and Dani. "Then w

via text: Nina Brookes. Former nurse

from the surv

e's still al

same year the video was t

k on her door like mystery S

k you up at 3. Wear black. I do

at looked like something out of a baking compet

the door and saw Ale

very, v

she said, voice thin but sha

rd. "Sylvia Mon

de her shou

sweet

ere talking about weather and not p

ned to you," she said. "Your

mber about that n

eone powerful was w

oden box and pulled o

Told me to only give it to her

trembled as

. One page. No date. But her wr

they got to him. Don't trust the Foundation. Don't trust the inheritance

hat, one

mistake, Ivy. You

letter and slid it back into th

ing, just rested his

him. "You're

And I'm noth

nd knowing. "You

s dipping low painting the

s car, the letter stil

me her rebel

softly. "You're not a leg

in me. Like maybe this w

out flipping th

or me, a car pulled int

Windows

pped.

t?" I wh

"We're bein

iked. "What

ce was cal

y picked the wron