Chapter 6 - The Mother's Trap
I rushed back to my hotel suite and opened my laptop with trembling hands.
The video call connected, revealing Ingrid and two grim-faced corporate lawyers from Halden Vale.
"Marlo, we received a highly detailed file claiming you plagiarized your final thesis," Ingrid said directly.
"It is a complete fabrication sent by someone trying to extort me," I stated firmly.
"The file contains IP logs and timestamped documents that appear genuine," one of the lawyers noted.
"We need you to prove your innocence within twenty-four hours, or we will be forced to terminate your contract."
The call disconnected, leaving me staring at my own terrified reflection in the dark screen.
I refused to let my toxic parents steal my success after I had worked so hard to build a life.
I immediately accessed the raw data file that the board had forwarded to my email.
I am a data analyst by trade, and I know how to track digital footprints better than anyone.
I spent six agonizing hours writing custom scripts to trace the routing origin of the anonymous email.
The sender had used multiple proxy servers to mask their location, but they made one fatal mistake.
They had briefly connected to a residential Wi-Fi network before initiating the final encrypted send.
I ran the IP address through a geolocation database.
The result popped up on my screen, and I froze in complete shock.
The email had not been sent from my mother's laptop or her mobile network.
It was sent from an IP address registered to a luxury downtown apartment in Sacramento.
I knew the address intimately.
It was the apartment my parents rented for my sister, Camille.
My mother had not hired a hacker at all.
Camille had fabricated the Stanford documents herself.
I grabbed my keys and drove straight to my sister's apartment complex in the middle of the night.
I pounded on her heavy wooden door until she finally opened it, looking pale and exhausted.
"Why are you trying to ruin my life, Camille?" I demanded, pushing past her into the living room.
Camille collapsed onto the sofa and buried her face in her hands.
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"Mom forced me to do it, Marlo," Camille sobbed uncontrollably.
"She said if I did not help them blackmail you, the men they owe money to would kill us all."
