"Who? Who is it?" Mindy screamed.

"Mindy! I don't have too much time to explain." Lexi's heart continued to beat fast. She had seen the animation and while she didn't know exactly how the pieces connected, she knew exactly who was involved. "I need your help! Can you please go get my parents and bring them to the Dean's office?" Tom was definitely on to something when he told her his gut feeling.

"Oh, my God! It's the Dean?"

"I think he might have something to do with it, yes."

"Oh God, this is nuts!"

"I know, and Mindy," Lexi paused and took a deep breath in, "bring Charlotte with you."

Before Mindy could let out another word, Lexi sprinted out and left her best friend frozen in the doorway. She held on tightly to her laptop as she hurried to the Administration building.

Tom was standing outside looking slightly less disheveled from when she left him. When his gaze landed on her, he gave her a questioning look before his eyes grew wide. "You solved it, didn't you?"

Lexi nodded frantically and tried to catch her breath. "We...solved...it, Tom!" She put her hands on her knees and was willing not to throw up.

"Breathe, Lexi. Breathe!" Tom placed a hand on her shoulder, but still couldn't contain the smile despite the concern for her well-being.

"Tom! We freaking did it!"

"Thank God! I quit Black Sphere before they could even fire me. I was praying you'd come with good news! Who the hell is it? I'm dying to know!"

"Come follow me." Lexi led Tom through the grand halls of the Administration building. They passed by Wes who was walking down from the Dean's floor. He waved patronizingly, but Lexi simply smiled in return. She no longer needed to be on this campus, but Wes didn't need to know that.

They walked by the Dean's secretary's desk, which was void of anyone seated before it. Lexi took a deep breath and opened the door to find the Dean, and a woman who was likely his secretary chatting. Lexi had only spoken to Dean Kovsky once before and the brief encounter wasn't enough to tell her everything. Yet, it was something else that night of the Dean's dinner that she should've remembered sooner.

"Dean Kovsky, you wanted to see us?" Lexi asked innocently.

The Dean stood up from his seat and glanced between his secretary, Lexi, and Tom. "Now, that's interesting. I just told Alana here that I wanted to see you both in my office immediately. How could you have known that?"

Lexi shrugged and took her seat in front of the Dean's desk. She motioned for Tom to do the same. He had an amused expression on his face, and she knew he was curious as to where she was going with this.

"You could say it was just intuition." Lexi's heart was pounding in her chest as she took in the man in front of her. He wore a nice, tailored suit and his teeth were strikingly white. Oh God, what is my plan here? Lexi stood up straighter and took a deep breath in. You got this, Lex! You can do this!

"It has come to my attention that a very serious accusation has been made regarding the two of you." Dean Kovsky glanced at Tom. "Professor Miller, care to confirm or deny the allegation?"

"I-" Tom started but was quickly cut off by Lexi.

"And it has come to our attention, Dean Kovsky, that a very serious accusation has been made regarding you, and another student by the name of Charlotte Coral. Care to confirm or deny the allegation?"

Lexi could've sworn she saw the Dean's eyes widen a fraction. She knew Tom was shocked but didn't take her eyes off of the man she believed to be involved in the ransomware case. He shifted in his seat before giving Lexi a puzzled look. "Excuse me, Miss Foster. I'll be the one doing the questioning here."

"Why should we sit here and let you question us when you won't be the Dean for very long? I hear jail tends to get people fired." Fire was pouring through Lexi's veins, and she glanced at Tom who subtly pulled his phone out.

"Young lady, that is no way to talk to your dean! I shall have you expelled for such outlandish talk!"

"Go right ahead, it's not like it'll make a difference anyway." Lexi smiled politely and sat back in her seat. She was taking somewhat of a gamble but she knew what she saw and her gut told her she was on to something.

Just then, loud shouting sounds were heard through the door. Soon, Jason burst through followed by Scarlett and the Dean's secretary. "Sir, I tried to tell them you were in a meeting. They blew past me!"

"We're Hannah's parents. What is going on?"

"Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! Please take a seat."

The Dean shifted in his seat and waved his secretary out. "It's fine, Alana. It's probably good that Miss Foster's parents will hear what their daughter has been up to." He took a deep breath and adjusted his tie.

Yet, before his secretary was able to turn around, Mindy and Cole barged into the Dean's office with Charlotte right next to them. "We brought Charlotte!" Mindy exclaimed as she gently pushed the confused girl in, and Cole pushed the secretary out. They slammed the door shut and led Charlotte to take a seat.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dean Kovsky bellowed.

"As I told you, Dean Kovsky, we're here to see if the accusations made by me against you and Charlotte are true."

"Um, Windy," Charlotte turned to Mindy with a wide-eyed look. "What's going on? I thought we were coming here to get tickets to a Cyber Tricks Seminar!"

"Sorry, Char! No, we're here to, um, I think, to get you arrested for ransomware crimes. Sorry, girl! No hard feelings!"

Charlotte jumped up and headed back for the door. Cole stood there with his arms crossed and didn't budge when Charlotte tried to get around him. "No one leaves here until we get everything sorted."

The rosy-cheeked girl fidgeted and glanced toward Dean Kovsky who had his head placed in his hands.

Lexi stood up and began pacing the room. "Thanks, everyone for coming. We're here to solve the case against Hasan Mohammad, owner of Klandestine Enterprises." Lexi felt as though they were in an actual courtroom, and this was her moment for presenting the evidence, questioning the suspects, and delivering the closing argument. It seemed that everyone was on the edge of their seats and Tom gave her an encouraging nod to keep going.

Lexi glanced at a stunned Charlotte. It was a shame it had to be her, but Mindy was right all along. "This morning, I was able to hack into the code you used to hack into Klandestine. I didn't have time to track the source of the code, but I instantly knew!" Lexi turned to Mindy. "Mindy, do you have your notebook of suspects on you?"

"Yes! I have it right here, in my bag!" Mindy pulled out the notebook and quickly handed it to Lexi.

Lexi shuffled through to Charlotte's entry and cleared her throat. "September nine. Charlotte Coral. Smiles a lot. Is high on life and would be a good friend to take to a concert," Lexi paused and skimmed to find the piece she was looking for. She slammed her finger against it when she found it. "Her favorite cartoon is The Looney Tunes. It's borderline obsessive and she says she's trying to break the habit of buying Looney Tunes dolls, and keeps it all stashed away at home. Her favorite is Tweety Bird!"

Jason and Scarlett gasped, and Tom's eyes grew wide. Cole and Mindy looked confused and seemed to be waiting for the smoking gun to be revealed to them. "Um, Lex. I don't get it," Mindy said while scratching her head.

"Oh my God, the weird Looney Tunes room! That was in the Dean's house!" Jason exclaimed and stood up.

Lexi nodded. "Exactly!" She shifted her attention back to Dean Kovsky whose face reddened with each passing second.

"That proves nothing!" he spat out.

"Tell that to the vein popping out of your forehead," Tom chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, you're right. Who knows, maybe you also have a Tweety Bird obsession. It's just that when I hacked into the code today, I saw a Tweety Bird animation pop up. The hacker's mark. Charlotte's mark. Now what are the chances that there are two people with Tweety Bird obsessions who happen to work and go to school on the same campus that's hosting a ransomware attacker's code?"

"I thought you said you'd protect me!" Charlotte screamed toward the dean. She ran her hands through her hair and began sobbing.

"Luybov' moya, I will! I am protecting you!" the Dean called back out to her, throwing his hands in the air.

Lexi's eyes grew wide. She looked toward Tom who was smiling so widely, it forced a smile out of her too.

The Dean stood up and slammed his fists against his desk. "That still doesn't prove anything! You need cold hard evidence that we did it!"

"Didn't you hear my daughter, buddy? The jig is up! She got into your code and we can easily trace things back to the direct source now!" Jason stood up and threw his hands in the air as he spoke.

The Dean shook his head. "No! No! We'll be long gone by then! Charlotte, dorogaya, go get your things. We're leaving!"

"Not so fast!" Tom called out and held his phone up. "I think the police would be very interested to hear what I just recorded here."

The Dean paled and Charlotte fainted and fell off her chair. "Oh my God, Char! Girl, wake up!" Mindy fanned Charlotte's face and it seemed to help her come to.

Yet, while the group was distracted by Charlotte, the Dean was at the large window, trying to pull the handle down. Yet he was barely able to get a foot over the ledge when Jason and Tom yanked him back. Cole ran over and held his legs while Scarlett called the police.

Lexi's gaze met Tom's and they shared a look of joy between them. They did it. They actually did it.

***

EEK! They did it! Do we like this reveal?? Did anyone expect it'd end up being Charlotte and the Dean?? I want to hear everything!