CHAPTER 6: Chase Breaks the Wrong Mirror

Chase found Madison outside the library and knew immediately that something had shifted.

It showed in the distance between her and Ethan. Not physical distance—they stood several feet apart—but moral distance, which frightened Chase more. Madison was looking at Ethan like he had given her a map out of a room she had not known was locked.

“Seriously?” Chase said. “You’re talking to him now?”

Madison clutched the folder to her chest. “Go home.”

Chase’s smile hardened. “Careful. People already think you got embarrassed by the charity prince. Don’t make them think you’re begging for an invite to his garage.”

Ethan stepped forward. “Leave her alone.”

Chase laughed. “There he is. Billionaire boy. You looked more convincing when your hoodie had holes.”

“It still has holes.”

“Then wear it to the board meeting. Maybe Daddy will cry.”

The hallway had filled with students pretending to check lockers. Chase saw them and expanded, as bullies do when reflected by an audience.

“You know what I think?” he said. “I think your mother’s little foundation failed because she married a man who didn’t want to claim you.”

Madison’s breath caught.

Ethan went completely still.

For one second, Chase thought he had won. Then Ethan walked to the trophy case beside them. His reflection appeared faintly in the glass, calm and pale.

“My mother never married Henry Vale,” he said. “She refused to sign the contract that would let him own her patents.”

Chase blinked.

“She built the battery system in that red car. Henry sold it. My trust owns the original licensing rights. That is why he called yesterday. Not because he loves me. Because if I speak at the vote, Vale Motors loses control.”

The students stopped pretending not to listen.

Chase’s face twisted. He grabbed a lacrosse trophy from a nearby shelf and slammed it against the glass case. The mirror-bright panel cracked across Ethan’s reflection.

A teacher shouted from the end of the hall.

Chase dropped the trophy and pointed at Ethan. “He did it.”

No one moved.

Madison looked at the cracked glass, then at Chase.

For the first time in public, she did not protect him.

“No,” she said. “He didn’t.”

Chase stared at her as if betrayal were a language he had never expected her to learn.

Behind them, a security camera blinked red.