Chapter 1At the banquet celebrating my daughter's perfect SAT score, my husband walked in—full cop uniform—and arrested me.
"Sloane Whitmore, you're under arrest for exam fraud. Come with me."
I froze. "WHAT?"
My daughter jumped in front of me. Tried to stop him.
This asshole pulled out handcuffs. Cuffed BOTH of us.
"Perfect score? Or dirty cheat? Guess we'll find out."
Me—an award-winning teacher.
My daughter—straight-A student.
Just like that, dragged out in cuffs. In front of everyone.
---
"Garrett, what the fuck? What fraud?"
I was sitting in that cop car, pissed as hell.
Yeah, I taught SAT prep. But didn't know anyone at College Board who wrote the actual test. So how could I cheat?
Garrett looked at me. "Two months ago, someone called in a tip. Said they knew people at College Board, could get test stuff early."
"The IP? Came from your laptop. At home."
"And you got like five hundred thousand dollars in your account these past two months."
My stomach dropped.
"Wait. You were watching me this whole time? Since before the test? You waited till AFTER Peyton took it, got her perfect score, we threw her a party—THEN you did this?"
"Garrett, do you get what you just did to her?"
I glared at him.
He took a breath. "Yeah, but what was I supposed to do? Whoever did this never showed up. I had to move when I could."
I laughed. But it wasn't funny. "Oh wow. So you used our daughter as bait. Nice. Real nice."
"Gotta get that promotion, right? Even if you screw over your whole family."
His face went dark. He didn't say anything.
Garrett had been stuck in the same job for seven years. He always said things were too quiet, no big cases.
Said if he wanted to move up he had to hustle. Except his version of hustling? Destroying our family.
Yeah. That wasn't happening. Not if I could help it.
At the station, they pulled me straight into an interrogation room.
"Garrett," I said, my voice cold. "Peyton's a kid. She didn't do anything. You can't question her."
The guy handling my case was Ryan Sullivan. Garrett's partner. Came over for dinner all the time.
Now he was looking at me like that. "Save it. You're here now. We got rules."
"Your kid or not, doesn't matter. Evidence says she's involved? She's a suspect."
"Just cooperate. Makes it easier."
I saw them taking Peyton away. God, her face was white. She looked terrified.
I hit the table. "I need a lawyer. Don't you dare mess with my daughter."
"Hey! Calm down!" Ryan's face got tight. "Sloane, I'm trying to be nice here because of Garrett. Work with us, we'll go easy on her."
"This SAT thing's huge. Just tell us what happened and we can make this easier."
I almost laughed. "Tell you what? You already know everything, right? So why bother asking?"
He coughed. "The money. Where'd it come from?"
"And your daughter's records—always top five in her class. Left the last math question blank every single time."
"Now? Perfect score. How's that work?"
"Those blank answers? We did that on purpose. There was a girl in her class, really smart, on scholarship. She needed the money. So Peyton let her be number one. What, that's illegal?"
Ryan frowned. "Sloane, you scared? Maybe your kid's not that smart. Maybe you're lying."
I crossed my arms. "Go check. Don't just make shit up. Garrett knows how smart Peyton is."
"Leaving that problem blank? That was my idea. And Garrett's. But that's SAT. So I said take it serious this time. Believe me or not. Up to you."
He stood up. Stopped by the door. "Everyone talks eventually. You will too."
I didn't answer. Just kept thinking about Peyton.
She's just a kid. She just took the SAT.
Now this. It's fucked up.
Chapter 2
An hour went by. No Garrett.
I knew this was blowing up outside.
Perfect SAT score, mom stealing test questions? The media was eating it up.
God knows what Peyton and my family were dealing with right now.
And Garrett? He gets to be the hero. Mr. Perfect. Throws his family under the bus for his job. And he'll probably get promoted for this.
I was so pissed I wanted to hit something.
Ryan came back. Saw me sitting there. Sighed. "We checked your daughter's scores. Could be luck."
"We're looking at the test footage. Takes time. But the money—what's that about?"
"Our guy said each sale was ninety-nine bucks. Your account's got a bunch of ninety-nine dollar payments. Explain."
I looked right at him. "I'm not saying anything till my lawyer shows up."
BANG.
He hit the table. "Sloane, stop. Every day you don't talk, this gets worse. We got orders. This is big. Students are complaining. Someone has to go down for this."
I knew they'd say that. But no proof? They can't touch me.
"Get Garrett. I'll talk to him. You want to charge me? Fine. Show me proof first."
"You guys just want to use me. Make yourselves look good. Maybe get promoted. If I don't help, what then? How do you move up?"
His face dropped.
I smiled. Didn't say anything.
He saw I wasn't talking till Garrett came. He left. Mad.
Two hours later, Garrett showed up.
He sat down. Sighed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Garrett, cut the act."
"When did you start planning this? When you got that tip? Before the test?"
He thought about it. Nodded.
"Last two months, you came home on time every day. Cooked for Peyton. Gave me massages. Did everything around the house. That was guilt, right?"
He opened his mouth. Nodded.
I took a breath. Smiled. Not a real smile. "Wow. You really did all that. Smart."
Garrett finally talked. "I knew you'd be mad when this came out. But—"
"Yeah, no shit. You threw us under the bus to move up. Great."
He didn't care. "Don't be like that. Just confess. You'll get out faster."
"And Peyton? She can retake it next year."
My eyes went wide. "Who are you? She's MY kid. She didn't do anything. You KNOW she was up till three every night."
"Sloane, YOU did this to her. Just confess—"
"I'm not confessing. Not till my lawyer's here. Garrett, we're done. However this ends—done."
"Peyton? Will she forgive you? I don't know. But I won't."
He looked frustrated.
Then I heard Peyton crying down the hall. My heart stopped.
Ryan came back. Looked at both of us. "Sloane, if you don't talk, your daughter's in this too. She'll get charged."
I was so pissed. "You got proof? Show me. I want my lawyer. When she gets here, I'll talk."
"Garrett, if you touch our daughter, I'm taking back everything I said."
Garrett looked at Ryan. Was about to say something.
But Ryan cut him off. "This case is being watched. Can't let her talk to anyone."
I hit the table. "Ryan, what are you scared of? That I'll prove you're lying? You got nothing, so you're going after my kid? You want to destroy her?"
"You're all assholes."
"SHUT UP!"
Ryan yelled. "Sloane, you're a suspect. Watch yourself."
"Some tip, and now I'm guilty? No proof? I want to meet whoever said this."
"That money—you can trace it. Look into it. But you won't even let me see a lawyer. What are you scared of?"
"If anything happens to my daughter, I don't care how long you lock me up. When I get out, I'm suing all of you."
I was ready for whatever came. Even if they set me up, I'd fight it.
Ryan's face went red. "Look at her. She's crazy. Talking about suing us."
"Yeah, I'll sue. Cops who screw over innocent people to get promoted shouldn't be cops."
I looked right at Garrett. "You too. Let me see my lawyer. Or when this goes to trial and the media's watching, I'll tell them everything. It'll be bad. Trust me."
I kept staring. He finally nodded. Let me call my lawyer.
I called right there. "Bring my bank records and all my messages to West Precinct. Bring PR too."
"Got it, Sloane. Coming."
Chapter 3
Half an hour later, my lawyer Margot showed up. PR team too. When she saw me, her eyes got watery.
First thing Margot did? Tried to get me out on bail.
Garrett said no right away. "Not till she explains those ninety-nine-dollar payments."
Margot laughed. Sharp. "Those payments? From online courses she sold. You didn't check?"
"Selling test prep while working as a teacher? That's illegal."
"She retired early."
"You're her husband. You didn't know that?"
Garrett looked shocked.
Ryan jumped in. "That doesn't mean she's innocent."
"Then where's YOUR proof? My client has everything—where the money came from, messages from the last two months, all of it. Here's phone records."
"So where's your evidence?"
Ryan's face went dark. "The IP came from that house."
I laughed. Cold. "That house where Garrett lives too?"
"I think you set this whole thing up. And HE helped you."
Garrett's face went white.
"Sloane, what're you talking about?"
"Why can't I say it? I'm not hiding anything. My money's right there. My retirement papers are right there."
"But you say someone leaked SAT stuff. You say it was me and Peyton. You say the IP came from my office. That office? OURS. You use it too."
Garrett opened his mouth. Said nothing.
"Maybe YOU leaked it. I want answers."
They had to look into everything again.
PR put it all out—I retired early, made online courses so kids could keep learning, everything.
Ninety-nine dollars each.
Everything from my years teaching. SAT help. Practice tests. What I thought would be on the test. All online.
People online said all kinds of stuff.
"I know Ms. Whitmore. Great teacher. I bought her stuff."
"I heard she retired. Bad back from teaching. Was gonna get surgery. But she kept going for Peyton. That's sad."
"Wait, isn't she the teacher they say leaked the test? Every job has shady people. People cheat on tests all the time. What's a few questions?"
"Wow, PR's going hard. Going after cops like this? Let's see what happens."
People were waiting. Some wanted me to go down. Some wanted the truth.
Thousands of kids online watching.
With my proof and all my questions, the cops had to be careful.
Garrett tried one more time. "The IP came from the office computer. You use it."
"So you're not backing off? Yeah, I use it. You use it too."
"You looked at my accounts. What about yours?"
"Garrett, you think you can screw me over to get promoted? Not happening. You too, Ryan. I want the truth."
"If you can't tell me—tell everyone—the truth, no one's gonna trust you guys anymore."
My words got to them. They both made fists.
Then the chief came in. Looked at me. Made a face.
"Sloane, let's stay calm here. We don't mess with innocent people. We don't let guilty people go either."
I laughed. "You got something new? Can you tell when that IP thing happened?"
"Your tech guys can't do it? My company can help."
"We're good." Chief Brennan stopped me. "Ryan, come here. Gotta talk."
"What, you can't talk in front of us? What are you hiding?"
I looked right at him. Smiled.
Chief looked at me. "Ms. Whitmore, you can bail out now. You can go."
"No. You guys need to give me answers first. Real ones. Or I'm not leaving."
I knew by now—they had nothing on me.
Ryan looked at me. Breathed in.
Chief sighed. Took out some papers. "Tell me. This guy who tipped you off—he's your cousin. You knew he lied. Why'd you keep going?"
