Chapter 21: Counselor Bennett Knew

Officer Ramirez told me not to respond.

I didn't.

By then, restraint had become almost automatic.

I forwarded both emails, saved the headers, and shut my laptop.

My mother paced the apartment.

“How does he know about Richard's offer?”

“Maybe Elaine told him.”

“Why would she?”

I had no answer.

Within hours, police interviewed Counselor Bennett.

His attorney later claimed the emails had been sent while he was under emotional stress and that the wording had been misunderstood.

Misunderstood.

I was beginning to hate that word.

Principal Warren called an emergency meeting with our attorney present.

“We reviewed Bennett's employment file,” he said.

“He joined Westbridge six years ago.”

Ms. Alvarez asked, “Any connection to the Pierce family?”

Warren hesitated.

“His position was partially funded through an endowed student-services grant.”

My stomach tightened.

“Whose grant?”

He looked embarrassed.

“The Pierce Family Educational Foundation.”

My mother laughed without humor.

“Of course.”

“That doesn't mean he was employed by them,” Warren said quickly.

“But it creates a connection worth investigating.”

I asked, “Did Elaine have authority over the foundation?”

“She served on its advisory board until last year.”

Everything kept circling back.

Ramirez later explained that financial connections alone didn't prove Bennett had shared my information.

They needed communications.

Those arrived sooner than anyone expected.

Bennett had used his school email carelessly.

Deleted messages were recovered from archived systems.

One from months earlier had been sent to an address associated with Elaine's assistant.

Subject:

“Scholarship Student Update.”

The body mentioned my grades, attendance, and whether I appeared likely to remain enrolled.

My mother covered her mouth.

I read it again.

Someone had been reporting on me.

Not merely photographing me.

Monitoring me.

Another message mentioned my mother's courthouse visit.

Another asked whether I had submitted any change to emergency-contact information.

None explicitly ordered harassment.

None mentioned Greer's forum post.

But the pattern was undeniable.

Ms. Alvarez said, “This may involve serious privacy issues.”

Principal Warren looked sick.

“We had no knowledge of these communications.”

“Then your controls failed,” she replied.

I appreciated her calmness.

Anger was useful.

Precision was better.

That afternoon, Bennett was formally terminated from Westbridge pending any additional legal consequences.

The school sent parents a carefully worded notice about unauthorized access and disclosure of student information.

My name wasn't included.

It didn't need to be.

Students guessed.

By the next morning, rumors had shifted again.

“Counselor Bennett was spying on someone.”

“The Pierce family owns the school.”

“Imogen is secretly rich.”

That last one almost made me laugh.

I checked my bank balance while eating cafeteria fries.

Thirty-eight dollars and twelve cents.

Very glamorous.

Talia sat down.

“People think you're getting millions.”

“Tell them I'll buy everyone pizza when the imaginary millions arrive.”

She laughed.

It was the first normal laugh we'd shared.

Then Greer walked into the cafeteria.

Conversation dipped.

She paused.

I recognized the instinct to run.

I had felt it every day in my first life.

Greer lifted her chin and kept walking.

She sat alone.

I didn't invite her over.

Forgiveness wasn't required for basic humanity.

But when someone at the next table whispered “psycho,” I turned around.

“Don't.”

The student blinked.

“What?”

“Don't start another pile-on.”

“After what she did to you?”

“Especially after what she did to me.”

They looked confused.

That was fine.

I understood.

After school, Greer's attorney delivered her formal statement to the disciplinary committee.

She admitted taking and posting my hospital photograph.

She admitted intending to damage my reputation.

She admitted asking Mason to frighten me after I challenged her.

She denied asking him to follow me or send the photograph taken on my route home.

She admitted knowing I was Richard's biological daughter.

She also stated that Elaine had repeatedly warned her that I intended to steal her future.

The school scheduled a final disciplinary hearing.

I should have felt finished.

Instead, one question kept bothering me.

If Elaine had Bennett monitoring me for months, why?

She already knew I existed.

She already knew my mother had never asked for money.

What was she waiting for?

That night, Richard called with an answer.

“My father changed his will last year.”

I sat up.

“Your father?”

“Greer's grandfather.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Richard exhaled.

“He learned you existed.”

My mother stared at the phone.

“How?”

“I told him.”

“Why?”

“Because I was tired of lying.”

Richard's voice sounded heavy.

“He changed the family trust so that any legally acknowledged biological grandchild would receive an equal educational and inheritance provision.”

I closed my eyes.

Money.

After all of this, money had been sitting underneath everything.

“Did Elaine know?”

“Yes.”

“Did Greer?”

“Not the details.”

My mother whispered, “How much?”

Richard named a figure.

I almost dropped the phone.

It was more money than my mother and I could earn in decades.

Suddenly, Elaine's surveillance had a clearer shape.

She wasn't watching to see whether we wanted money.

She was watching to make sure we never learned it was already being offered.