Chapter 3: The Professor at Our Front Door
```text My sister was still smiling when the pounding began.
She stopped the moment my thesis advisor called my name from outside.
At 8:07 that morning, Lila had smashed my glasses in the kitchen sink.
“I guess you'll have to fail,” she'd said.
Mom had handed me tape instead of helping.
Dad had told me the university had already started without me.
They thought the three of them had successfully destroyed five years of my work with a broken pair of glasses and a missing phone.
What they didn't know was that Professor Adrian Shaw had been expecting trouble.
My research involved a low-cost imaging model capable of detecting certain retinal abnormalities with equipment clinics already had.
Two hospital systems were discussing pilot programs.
A medical technology company was interested in licensing the model.
My advisor had warned me to protect my files after an attempted breach of my university account three months earlier.
He had also helped me establish an emergency protocol.
If I failed to check in by 7:45 on defense day, the system would send him my location, archived messages, and an alert.
The warning had gone out before Lila even finished laughing.
Now, someone was hammering on our front door.
Dad put down his phone.
“What's going on?””
For once, I didn't answer his questions.
I couldn't see the people outside clearly through the window, but I recognized Professor Shaw's voice.
And there was another voice beside his.
A stranger.
Someone who had apparently come with him.
Lila hurried toward the hallway, suddenly less confident.
Mom followed, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
My father reached the door first.
He opened it only a few inches.
Professor Shaw stood on the porch, his expression colder than I'd ever seen it.
Beside him stood a second visitor holding a folder.
“Where is she?”” my advisor demanded.
Dad tried to block the doorway.
“She isn't going anywhere today. This is a family matter.””
Professor Shaw didn't move.
“No,” he replied.
“It stopped being a family matter when the evidence reached my office.””
Behind my father, Lila went completely still.
Because the person beside Professor Shaw finally stepped forward.
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And the first question he asked was about my missing phone.
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