Once Zara and Avery are alone, Zara confirms that she has spoken with the lawyers. Avery directly confronts Zara about the press conference in which Zara implied Tobias Hawthorne was senile and Avery might be investigated for elder abuse. Avery also makes clear that Zara now understands the legal reality: if Avery loses the inheritance, the Hawthorne family loses it too.

Zara shifts from hostility to strategy. After commenting on Avery’s new appearance, Zara explains that Avery has inherited not only Tobias’s personal fortune but also control of the Hawthorne Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the country. The foundation gives away more than one hundred million dollars annually.

Avery is stunned by the scale of the money and begins to grasp how much power the inheritance gives her. When Zara describes the foundation’s broad categories of giving, Avery realizes that the money could be used to address causes she cares about, including homelessness, poverty, domestic violence, and health care access.

Zara reveals that she has spent her adult life running the foundation and argues that Avery needs her expertise if Avery wants to avoid damaging work that many organizations depend on. Avery sees that Zara’s concern is not purely charitable, since Zara also draws a salary from the foundation, but Avery decides not to act impulsively or cruelly.

Avery tells Zara that she wants real involvement in the foundation’s decisions, not a symbolic role. Zara reluctantly agrees to teach her and orders Avery to report to the foundation after school on Monday. Before Avery can ask where the foundation is, Oren enters and positions himself beside Avery, signaling that he does not want Avery alone with Zara now that Zara can no longer pursue Avery legally without consequences.