All Chapters of The Inheritance Clause: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

POV: Selene CastellanoShe found him sitting at the desk, not in his usual chair but in the one across from it, the one meant for visitors, like he’d needed distance from his own space.She sat down across from him.“Tell me,” she said.He opened up to her, sharing every detail. The recording that had been made, and how Nene had been aware of it before it was too late, not after the fact. He also told her about the phone call, the one where she had pleaded with Jonathan to put an end to it, but he had flat out refused. And then there was Reeves' accusation, the one that suggested her silence over the past thirty years was just as much about her own feelings of guilt as it was about protecting Avalon.Selene just sat there, not saying a word, for what felt like a really long time after he was done.“Do you believe him,” she said.“I don’t know,” Avalon said. “ Part of me wants to dismiss it entirely. He’s a murderer trying to manipulate me. But part of me—” He stopped.“What.”“Part of

POV: Avalon PierceThe next morning, they all gathered in Agent Nunez's office to listen to it. There were four of them: Avalon, Selene, Margaret, and Agent Nunez. They stood around a small speaker on the desk, waiting to hear what it had to say."Let's get one thing straight before we listen to this," Nunez said. "It was recorded a long time ago, without anyone's permission, by people who wanted to use it to hurt others. The story Reeves told you was meant to make you think about it in a certain way. So, I want you to keep that in mind when you're listening."Avalon nodded.Margaret pressed play.The audio was old, scratchy, but clear enough.A phone ringing. Then a click."Mom." Jonathan Pierce's voice. Young, certain and alive. Avalon had only ever heard four seconds of his father's voice before, in an old home video Margaret had shown him years ago. This was different. This was him talking, thinking, being a person in real time.Nene's voice was laced with a warning, her tone unmi

POV: Selene CastellanoAmara was already sitting at her desk when Selene and Avalon walked in the next morning at 7 am. She had three pieces of paper laid out on the table in front of her, covered in colorful notes and symbols that only made sense to her. It was clear she had been up late, coming up with some kind of system that only she could understand.“Sit down,” Amara said, not looking up. “ This is bad.”“How bad,” Avalon said."Amara pointed out that two names on Ross's list which were familiar, they belonged to members of their community advisory panel, not the executive board, but rather a group of people they had specifically chosen for their connections to the city government."Selene sat down slowly.“Who,” she said.Amara turned one of the printouts around.Two names, highlighted.Selene read them."They've been a part of our lives from the very start," she said in a soft voice, "even before we held the symposium, they were already here with us."“I know,” Amara said.Jam

POV: Selene CastellanoThe advisory board meeting had gone exactly as Selene hoped.Everything was out in the open and clearly recorded. But the two members who had been compromised decided to step down before things got ugly, opting for a quiet exit instead of a public showdown. James took it upon himself to apologize to the entire board for the mistake in their vetting process. Meanwhile, Amara had already put a new screening process in place, which was making waves in the nonprofit sector - it was even featured in two newsletters as a model for how to be transparent and accountable.A week after that, Henderson Capital made a quiet move to shut down its philanthropic division. The SEC investigation was gaining speed, and Richard Henderson decided to step down from his own company instead of waiting to see what the results would be.Diana's name was finally in the clear, it turned out she had never actually been implicated - the calls made using her phone number had been tracked and

POV: Maya CastellanoKofi’s family arrived on Thursday.Kofi had decided that the airport was not the right place for Maya to meet his family. He thought it would be too overwhelming, with all the noise and crowds, and the hassle of dealing with luggage and jet lag. He wanted their first meeting to be more low-key, so he had made it clear that the airport was off limits. Maya, it seemed, had respected his wishes and was not there to greet them.She had agreed, mainly because fear was holding her back and she needed someone to tell her it was okay to wait a little longer.Instead she cleaned her apartment for three hours and then sat on the couch and stared at the wall.Kofi called at noon."He told me they're all at the hotel now, just taking it easy. We're having dinner together tonight at 7, just a family thing."“Just family,” Maya repeated.“You’re family,” he said.“I meant just your family, without me.”A pause.“Maya.”“I’m fine,” she said. “ I’m completely fine.”“You cleaned