"Or did he involve another student who was also suspended? Are the student and his parents behind this? Why did they also kidnap dad?" Steph asked as she scratched her head in frustration and groaned.
A few minutes before, she thought she had it all figured out, but as soon as she started her confrontation, many questions other than answers arose.
"As I said before, you got it all wrong," Victoria said with a sly and victorious smile.
"What is it then?" You have to tell me the truth, or I will go to the cops and tell them everything I know," Steph threatened, and she meant it.
Victoria's mind quickly raced as she looked for a lie to come up with, but luckily for her, she didn't have to answer Steph as their conversation was interrupted by the insistent ring of the doorbell.
The two looked at each other with confusion. Their hearts skipped a bit, and a part of them wished that it was Max and Travis back home, but that was an illusion because the two could easily let themselves into the house. Plus, if it was them, the compound would probably be surrounded by the police and paparazzi.
"Must be the police, or maybe Ivan decided to come looking for you," Victoria thought as she inhaled and exhaled deeply severally and walked slowly towards the door.
She took one last look at Steph before opening the door, and she felt a sigh of relief when she saw Marina standing at the door. She looked like someone who was being chased after, and she was panting as her heart beat faster than normal.
"You're from the car. Why are you panting?" Victoria asked in amusement, and Marina shook her head and said, "It's Amy."
Despite not exactly knowing what Amy had done, Victoria could tell that Marina hadn't brought her good news.
She turned to look at Steph, who hadn't heard anything and was rudely replying to Ivan's text messages.
"Please come in," Victoria said with a smile as she moved closer to Marina and whispered, "You look flushed, but please act calm."
"Hello," Steph greeted Marina warmly, and despite herself, Marina held onto the handshake longer than expected. She felt tears form in her glands, and so she moved back a little after lovingly telling Steph that she looked good and happy.
"Is Amy okay?" Steph asked with concern, and Marina quickly nodded. For a while, Steph contemplated whether or not to let her know Amy had been kind of off for a while.
"Uh…yes, I know about it. We had some issues to solve. She is okay now," Marina said with a smile and an affectionate voice.
For just a second, Steph wished Victoria had smiled at her like that. Letting go of her self-pity, she excused herself from the room and let the two talk.
"What is it?" Victoria asked in an impatient tone once Steph was out of earshot.
"Amy is asking a lot of questions," Marina whispered back as she looked at Victoria intently. It took a while for Victoria to get the hinge of where the conversation was heading, and when she did, she laughed it off.
"Just look for a plausible excuse," Victoria said dismissively, and that infuriated Marina, who was already struggling not to lose her mind.
"It has to align. We have to agree on what to tell them to incase Steph asks similar questions, or don't you get it?" Marina almost shouted as she pointed out the fact that Victoria hadn't noticed.
Victoria sighed deeply and said, "Gosh! What was Amy's trigger?"
Marina explained everything from the beginning, and when she was done, Victoria couldn't resist the need to shout at her for still holding onto that photo.
"Don't do that!" Marina shouted at the top of her voice. She then moved to the seat next to Victoria and said, "Amy saw a similar photo here, so you're not all that clean. We have to join the dots for them, or else we are all doomed."
"Good afternoon, class. I have the results of your last CAT," Ms. Hill told the class, and there were soft murmurs and giggles as she gave the papers to one of the students in the front of the class to distribute.
"Anyone who hasn't found her paper?" She asked after a few minutes, and there was no response.
Amy looked in horror and disappointment at the marks on her sheet and folded the paper in frustration as she groaned.
'S*it!' She softly cursed as she placed her head on the desk.
She noticed a number of students staring at her and decided without second thoughts to get out of class.
"Ms. Thompson," Ms. Hill called after her, but she didn't stop to listen. She just wanted to get out of the lecture hall and perhaps never return there again.
She could feel frustrations and resentment building within her, and she realized that Steph must be feeling the same.
She wanted to call Steph and just talk to her, but she didn't even know what she would talk about.