### Chapter 3
Olympia Whitney, the biggest bootlicker in the group, looked at me with undisguised contempt. She pulled her kid's set of markers from her bag, raised her hand, and dragged one straight down my chest.
A thick black line tore across my couture white suit in an instant, running from my collarbone all the way down to my thigh.
The other parents saw what she'd done and snatched markers from pencil cases, rushing at me all at once.
Within seconds, my pristine white suit had become a mess of garish colors layered over black.
Olympia was the first to whip out her phone, snapping photo after photo of me. She let out a cold laugh.
"Who are you trying to fool with that classy act? This is more like it. This look actually matches your trashy little soul."
"Do you have any idea what this suit and those jewels you just ruined are worth?"
I looked at the wreckage around me, then calmly took out my phone.
There was a message from Attorney Fox. He was ten minutes away.
That one small move set Maria off. She lunged at me, ripped the phone from my hands, and hurled it into the pool. "Trying to call for backup? Someone gives you an inch and you really start thinking you matter."
The rest of them wore the same mocking expressions.
I lifted my gaze and swept it slowly over every single one of them.
"I already told you that you'd pay ten times over for what you've done. I'm giving you one last chance. Apologize to me and my daughter. Otherwise, in ten minutes, every single person here is going to deeply regret coming to this little gathering."
Finally, I fixed my stare on the teacher who had watched the entire thing without lifting a finger.
"This is exactly how you stood by when my daughter was being tormented at school, isn't it?"
Ursula scoffed.
"Playing the victim? When you were busy destroying someone else's family, did you ever stop to think that Owen is only six years old?"
"Someone like you has no right to point fingers at anyone."
With the teacher leading the charge, the other parents grew bolder, some even clapping in agreement.
"The teacher's already spoken. What are you still doing here, making a scene? Does anyone here actually want their kid in the same school as some illegitimate child?"
"Throw them both out! Let everybody see what happens when you wreck a family!"
Maria toyed with the gemstone necklace she'd just snatched, her tone dripping with arrogance.
"Hear that? It's not just me. Everyone here is disgusted by you. A pair of low-class trash like you and your daughter belong in a basement where no one ever has to see you. You should never even dream of holding your heads up again."
Their words kept getting uglier.
Carly was trembling in my arms.
Even Owen, standing off to the side, had a grin spreading wider and wider across his chubby face.
Ursula saw her opening and hurried over to Maria.
"Mrs. Perez, I'll take care of the paperwork for these two personally. It's just that the principal has been hoping to open a new campus near the International Tower. Do you think you might be able to put in a word?"
Maria struck a magnanimous pose, like she was bestowing a favor.
"That's nothing. The International Tower belongs to my husband. You handle this cleanly, and forget one campus. I'll have him sign over ten."
The moment those words left her mouth, the parents' eyes lit up. One by one they crowded around Maria.
"Mrs. Perez, our family runs a premium flower farm. Whatever your husband's company needs, we'll supply it all, top-shelf quality, guaranteed!"
"Mrs. Perez, my husband's in architectural design! We'd love the chance to work with Mr. Perez."
Someone even pressed a thick stack of gift cards into her hand, promising favors on the spot.
Maria parted the crowd, walked up to me, and looked down at me. She leaned in close and deliberately lowered her voice.
"See that? That's the difference between us. One word from me, and every single one of them falls in line, begging for scraps."
"A homewrecker like you will never have what I have. While I'm still in a generous mood, take your little brat and leave the country. Don't ever let me hear your names again. Otherwise, your daughter losing her voice will be the least of her problems."
