Nathan leaned closer.
“Does it hurt, Mara?”
He nodded toward Preston.
“Seeing what a son becomes when he has a real father?”
Behind him, the semifinal rankings appeared on a large monitor.
**Mathematics: Ethan Ellis — First.**
**Engineering Design: Eli Ellis — First.**
**Academic Bowl Team Placement: Ellis Twins — First Seed.**
Celeste noticed first.
Her lips parted.
Nathan turned.
Read the names.
Then frowned.
“Ellis?”
“Yes,” I said softly.
“Mine.”
His eyes moved across the lobby toward Eli and Ethan.
They stood beneath the rankings screen.
Calm.
Unspeaking.
For one second, I saw recognition trying to reach his face.
Then he rejected it.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
Ethan looked directly at him.
“You signed the papers, Mr. Crowe.”
He paused.
“You should remember.”
Nathan’s face drained of color.
Celeste turned sharply toward him.
“Nathan?”
He grabbed my arm.
I looked down at his hand.
“Remove it.”
“You brought them here to humiliate me,” he hissed.
“No.”
I pulled my arm free.
“You managed that yourself.”
His eyes were wild now.
“Preston will still win the Governor’s Cup. That’s the only thing anyone will remember.”
I glanced toward the judges’ hallway.
Three board officials were already waiting for my signal.
“You’re right.”
I smiled faintly.
“People do remember the final round.”
Then I walked away.
The final round was held in a ballroom filled with chandeliers, cameras, students, teachers, and parents.
At center stage sat the silver Governor’s Cup.
Nathan took a front-row seat like a king waiting for tribute.
Preston looked different now.
Pale.
Tense.
For the first time all day, his confidence had cracks in it.
The academic bowl began.
Literature.
Physics.
Constitutional law.
Probability.
World history.
Eli answered first.
“Correct.”
Then Ethan.
“Correct.”
Then both of them moved through the lightning round so cleanly that whispers started spreading through the audience before the scoreboard could keep up.
Preston buzzed too early twice.
Missed both questions.
Then stared down at his hands.
When the final bell sounded, the screen changed.
**FIRST PLACE OVERALL: ELI ELLIS AND ETHAN ELLIS.**
The ballroom erupted.
I stood.
Clapping.
Crying.
Not even trying to hide it.
My sons looked toward me.
Not the trophy.
Not the cameras.
Not the judges.
Me.
Then the moderator lifted another envelope.
“Before the awards are presented, the State Academic Integrity Board has a statement.”
Nathan stopped clapping.
I walked onto the stage.
