“You have no right to touch those files!” he screamed.

“We have a warrant, Mr. Parker,” a calm voice replied.

I walked over to my closet and pulled down my heavy blue duffel bag.

I threw it onto the bed and began grabbing sweaters from my dresser.

The fabric felt rough and cold against my fingertips.

I needed to get to Ellison University before they found a way to stop me.

If I stayed in this house, they would drag me down into the ruins of their fraud.

I packed my jeans, my laptop charger, and the small wooden jewelry box my grandmother had given me.

A sharp knock on my bedroom door made me jump.

“Ava!” my father’s voice barked from the hallway.

He sounded breathless and angry.

I didn’t answer.

I zipped the duffel bag closed, the metal teeth of the zipper biting together with a harsh click.

“Ava, open this door right now,” he demanded, rattling the brass doorknob.

“No,” I said, my voice firmer than I expected.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said through the wood. “You have grandmother’s original financial ledger.”