All Chapters of The Professor’s Canvas : Chapter 41 - Chapter 47

I open my laptop. Pull up the MIT acceptance form. Cursor hovering over submit.Sofia appears with food. “Eat first. Then decide.”“I’ve already decided.”“Then eat to celebrate. Or eat to grieve. But eat.”I eat mechanically while Sofia packs my books. My research. My life into boxes.At 11:30 PM, I hit submit on the MIT form.Confirmation email arrives instantly. *Welcome to MIT. We look forward to your arrival Monday, January 6th.*Three weeks. I have three weeks to pack up four years in Barcelona. Say goodbye to everything.“Done?” Sofia asks.“Done.”“Good. Now you can actually rest.”But I can’t rest. Can’t sleep. I lie awake thinking about Mateo in his hospital bed. About my father in his grave. About the person I was four months ago who thought she had everything figured out.At 2 AM, my phone buzzes.Text from Mateo: *I lied.*I stare at the screen.Another text: *I don’t want this to be over.*My heart pounds.Another: *I know you accepted MIT. Isabella told me. And I know y

I destroyed my MIT lab on day three.Not intentionally. I’m running a quantum resonance test, miscalculate the electromagnetic interference, and the entire array overloads. Sparks. Smoke. Alarms screaming.My advisor, Dr. Chen, finds me in the wreckage. “Miss Vega. My office. Now.”I follow her through the physics building, still smelling like burnt circuits.She closes her office door. “You’ve been here two weeks. In that time, you’ve produced brilliant preliminary work and nearly burned down a fifty-million-dollar lab. What’s going on?”“Personal issues. They won’t interfere again…”“They’re interfering now.” She sits. “I recruited you because your research is exceptional. But I need your head in the game. Whatever is happening in your personal life, fix it or compartmentalize it. You have one week to prove you can handle this program.”One week. Mateo’s wedding is in four days.“I understand.”Back at the apartment Sofia found us, small, expensive, walking distance from campus—I tr

The video continues. It shows my father explaining that Marina is dangerous, that having a defense plan isn’t the same as plotting murder.“Isabella edited it,” I breathe. “She cut out the context.”“She manipulated the footage to make it look like premeditated murder when it was actually your father preparing your mother for possible self-defense.” Ana puts her phone away. “I have the full video. The metadata proving when it was recorded and when it was edited. Everything we need to prove Isabella fabricated evidence.”“So my mother is safe.”“If we release this before the wedding, yes. Isabella’s leverage disappears.”I look at Patricia. “Then why haven’t you released it already?”“Because we need Mateo’s cooperation. And he won’t break the engagement unless he knows you’re here. Unless he knows you still want him.” Patricia meets my eyes. “He thinks you moved on, that you chose MIT over him. He’s going through with the wedding because he believes there’s nothing left to fight for.”

The machines beep faster.“Antonio spent forty years watching Carlos Sandoval build an empire on blood while he lost everything for an honest relationship with me. When you started dating Mateo, Antonio saw his chance.” Her eyes bore into mine. “Everything he did—the cameras, Marina, all of it—was about punishing Carlos Sandoval through his son. About destroying Mateo the way Carlos destroyed that woman.”“Who was she? The woman who died?”“I don’t know. Antonio never told me her name. Just said she was young. Brilliant. Pregnant with Carlos’s child when she died.”“She had the abortion then—”“No.” My mother’s grip tightens. “She didn’t have the abortion. She had the baby. Gave her up for adoption before she died. That baby is alive, Elena. She’s been part of this story from the beginning.”My heart stops. “Who? Who is she?”“You know her. You’ve been working with her.” My mother’s voice is fading. “The adoption records—Antonio found them years ago. He knew. He’s been—”Her words cut