Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO OWNED THE UNIVERSITYBy the time Natalie reached the Dean's office, the video had already been viewed thousands of times.
She sat quietly in a chair outside the conference room.
Across from her, Amber was crying.
Not real crying.
Natalie knew the difference.
Amber's tears came with perfectly controlled mascara.
Her posture was carefully arranged.
Her bruised elbow was being held like a trophy.
Her mother had taught her how to perform weakness.
And Victoria Vance had taught an entire city how to fear her.
The conference room door opened.
“Ms. Carter.”
Natalie entered.
Dean Richard Holloway sat behind a massive oak desk.
Amber sat beside him.
Two university administrators were standing near the window.
Then Natalie saw Victoria.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Victoria Vance wore a cream-colored suit and a diamond watch.
Her expression was cold.
She didn't look at Natalie like a student.
She looked at her like an inconvenience.
“This is the girl who attacked my daughter?”
Natalie said nothing.
Victoria turned toward the Dean.
“I expect her expelled today.”
Dean Holloway swallowed.
“Mrs. Vance, we are still reviewing the circumstances.”
“My daughter was assaulted in front of dozens of witnesses.”
“She pushed me first,” Natalie said.
Amber immediately interrupted.
“She attacked me!”
Natalie looked at her.
“You grabbed my bag.”
“You threw me onto concrete!”
“After you shoved me.”
Victoria slammed her palm against the desk.
“Enough.”
The Dean flinched.
Victoria leaned forward.
“My family has donated more than twenty million dollars to this university.”
Nobody spoke.
“You have a new science building because of us.”
Silence.
“You have scholarships because of us.”
She pointed toward Natalie.
“And yet you're allowing a violent student to sit here and insult my family?”
Natalie slowly reached into her backpack.
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
Natalie placed a tablet on the desk.
“Before you expel me, Dean, you should look at this.”
Victoria's expression changed.
Just slightly.
The Dean touched the screen.
A financial document appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Import records.
Manufacturing invoices.
Patent registrations.
Corporate transfers.
The Dean's eyebrows rose.
“What is this?”
Natalie answered calmly.
“Audit records from Vance Atelier.”
Victoria stood.
“Where did you get those?”
Natalie looked at her.
“My father kept copies.”
Victoria went pale.
For the first time since entering the room, she looked afraid.
“My father was Daniel Carter.”
The Dean stared at her.
Daniel Carter.
The name meant something.
Everyone in the luxury fashion industry knew it.
Twenty years earlier, Daniel had been considered one of the most gifted leather artisans in the country.
Then his company collapsed.
His patents disappeared.
His designs appeared under another name.
And Daniel Carter vanished from the industry.
Victoria had always claimed the partnership ended because Daniel couldn't manage a business.
But Natalie knew the truth.
Her father had been robbed.
And the evidence had finally come back.
Victoria whispered,
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
Natalie opened another file.
A scanned contract appeared.
Then a patent filing.
Then an invoice.
“This is your signature.”
Victoria stared at the screen.
The Dean leaned closer.
Natalie continued.
“My father designed the Vance Atelier Aurora line.”
Amber looked confused.
“So?”
Natalie looked at her.
“The bag you carry every day is based on his design.”
Amber's face changed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're lying.”
Natalie opened another document.
“This is the original prototype.”
An old photograph appeared.
A younger Daniel Carter stood beside a leather bag.
The same shape.
The same stitching.
The same brass emblem.
The same design Amber had been carrying.
But there was more.
Natalie displayed customs documents showing production shipments from overseas factories.
Cheap leather.
Synthetic lining.
Unlicensed materials.
Counterfeit labels.
The word LUCCI appeared repeatedly.
Dean Holloway stared at Victoria.
“What is this?”
Victoria didn't answer.
Natalie did.
“Your daughter was carrying a counterfeit bag.”
Amber began shaking her head.
“No.”
“The Vance Atelier bags weren't being made the way customers were told.”
Victoria snapped,
“That's enough!”
But the room had already changed.
The Dean was no longer looking at Natalie as a troublemaker.
He was looking at Victoria as a possible criminal.
Victoria stepped toward Natalie.
“You think this proves something?”
Natalie met her gaze.
“I know it does.”
Victoria smiled.
It was a terrifying smile.
“You're going to regret this.”
Natalie didn't move.
“No.”
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“I've been regretting what you did to my father for ten years.”
The room fell silent.
Then the door opened.
A university attorney entered.
He looked pale.
“Dean, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The video isn't the biggest issue.”
He placed a folder on the desk.
“We've just received a federal inquiry into Vance Atelier's import records.”
Victoria froze.
Natalie's heart stopped.
The attorney continued.
“And they specifically requested information connected to Daniel Carter's patents.”
Victoria looked at Natalie.
Natalie looked back.
Neither woman spoke.
Because both understood the same thing.
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Someone else had been investigating.
And Natalie had just become part of something much bigger than a campus scandal.
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