Chapter 6 - The Assistant Director
Assistant Director Camille Rowe had worked at Westbridge for nine years.
Students loved her.
She remembered birthdays.
She arranged transportation.
She helped scholarship families find used riding gear.
Olivia could not reconcile that woman with the anonymous photograph.
Police interviewed Camille.
She denied placing it.
Then hallway footage showed her entering Olivia’s dorm wing outside normal duty hours.
Access logs showed her key opening Olivia’s locker area.
But there was no camera inside.
Camille requested an attorney.
Malcolm issued a statement placing her on leave.
Too fast again.
Olivia asked Paige’s mother:
“Was Camille involved in complaints?”
Caroline nodded.
“She was usually the person students reported problems to first.”
“Did she support Malcolm?”
“Publicly.”
“Privately?”
Caroline hesitated.
“She objected sometimes.”
That changed everything.
Could Camille have placed the photograph as a warning, not a threat?
Olivia asked to speak with her through counsel.
Camille agreed.
They met at Alexander’s attorney’s office.
Camille looked exhausted.
“I put the photograph there.”
Olivia stared.
“Why?”
“To scare you.”
“That worked.”
“I wanted you to ask your father about the land.”
“Why anonymously?”
“Because Malcolm reads internal email and staff reports.”
Alexander’s attorney interrupted.
“You understand placing a threatening message in a student’s locker is unacceptable.”
“Yes.”
Camille looked at Olivia.
“I made a bad decision.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Because students talk.”
“I don’t.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Fair.
Olivia asked, “What are you afraid Malcolm will find out?”
Camille’s voice lowered.
“That I copied the foundation accounting drive.”
Alexander leaned forward.
“What’s on it?”
“Everything.”
The room changed.
Camille had spent six months copying documents after noticing scholarship discrepancies.
She discovered questionable veterinary invoices.
Donor pressure.
Internal emails about complaint suppression.
And something bigger.
The academy had been moving operating expenses into the foundation’s restricted scholarship fund.
Alexander’s lawyer frowned.
“That could be serious.”
Camille nodded.
“About five million over three years.”
Olivia stared.
“Scholarship donations were paying general bills?”
“Yes.”
“Illegal?”
Alexander’s attorney answered carefully.
“Potentially a breach of donor restrictions, depending on the fund documents and accounting treatment.”
Camille continued.
“Malcolm knew.”
“Victoria Vale?”
“She approved several transfers as foundation chair before stepping into her current advisory role.”
Paige whispered, “My mother’s finance committee was never shown those entries.”
Camille looked at Alexander.
“Your proposed audit would reveal them.”
That explained the panic surrounding Reed Hospitality’s development deal.
Alexander asked, “Why didn’t you go to the board?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Last October.”
“What happened?”
“Malcolm told me I was misunderstanding restricted accounting.”
“And then?”
“My promotion disappeared.”
Camille smiled bitterly.
“I stayed because I thought I could collect enough evidence.”
Olivia asked, “Do you have the drive?”
“No.”
Everyone froze.
“Where is it?”
“I hid it in my office.”
“And?”
“It disappeared yesterday.”
Someone had searched her office after Alexander suspended the development deal.
Camille believed Malcolm.
No proof.
Then she said something worse.
“There’s a second problem.”
Olivia exhaled.
“Of course.”
“Westbridge’s insurance claims.”
“What about them?”
“Some horse injury claims were inflated.”
“How?”
“Repairs and veterinary expenses were bundled with unrelated costs.”
“Who benefited?”
“Lone Star Equine. A construction contractor. And possibly the academy.”
Alexander asked, “Insurance fraud?”
“Maybe.”
Olivia felt the school around her changing shape.
The polished barns.
The manicured hedges.
The championship banners.
All of it sitting over accounting manipulation.
Camille looked at Olivia.
“The bucket incident forced your father into a room Malcolm hoped to control.”
Olivia thought about that.
“If Sienna had ignored me…”
“The Reed deal might still be moving quietly.”
“So she accidentally exposed everything.”
Camille gave a humorless smile.
“Bullies are not always strategic.”
That distinction mattered.
Sienna was cruel.
Victoria might be corrupt.
Those were not automatically the same conspiracy.
Olivia needed to stop assuming everyone acted together.
That evening, she confronted Sienna in the indoor arena.
Sienna was grooming Monarch.
“You think my mother told me to dump that water on you?”
“I wondered.”
“She didn’t.”
“I believe you.”
That surprised Sienna.
Olivia continued.
“But she knew who I was.”
Sienna’s hand stopped moving.
“She told me after.”
“When?”
“The night your dad came.”
“What did she say?”
“That you were dangerous to our family.”
Olivia leaned against the stall.
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said your father wanted to steal academy land.”
Olivia almost laughed.
“And you believed her.”
Sienna’s eyes flashed.
“You believe your father.”
“Usually.”
“Exactly.”
Olivia saw the mirror.
Sienna had grown up inside Victoria’s version of reality just as Olivia lived inside Alexander’s.
Trust could become inheritance too.
Sienna said, “My mother says the academy will close if your father gets involved.”
“My father’s investment might be the only thing preventing foreclosure.”
“That’s not what she says.”
“Then read the loan documents.”
Sienna stared.
Olivia continued.
“Your family’s company holds eighteen million dollars of academy debt.”
Sienna’s face changed.
She had not known.
“How do you know that?”
“County filings.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Sienna stepped back.
“My mother would have told me.”
Olivia said quietly:
“Would she?”
For the first time, Sienna looked less arrogant than afraid.
The next morning, Victoria Vale arrived at Westbridge.
She went directly to Sienna’s barn.
Their argument could be heard down the aisle.
“You stay away from that girl.”
“Why do we own the academy’s loan?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Are we trying to take the land?”
“Sienna.”
“Are we?”
Olivia heard a slap.
She froze.
Then Sienna rushed from the barn with one hand against her cheek.
Victoria emerged behind her.
She saw Olivia.
Her face hardened.
“This is your fault.”
Olivia did not move.
“No.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Your father walks into places and destroys them.”
“My father didn’t hit Sienna.”
Victoria’s eyes flashed.
Then Malcolm appeared.
“Mrs. Vale, perhaps we should—”
Victoria turned on him.
“Fix this.”
The command was revealing.
Malcolm went pale.
Olivia understood something new.
Victoria did not influence Westbridge.
She controlled Malcolm.
May you like
And Malcolm was afraid she could expose why.
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