I actually laughed, the kind of laugh that comes when you're too furious for anything else.
My daughter was first in her grade. Olympiad gold medalist.
Her guaranteed placement at Ashford was "gaming the system"?
But hand it to Bobby, who scored zeros across the board, and suddenly he deserved it?
Joe's double standard turned my stomach.
I tore the transfer request in two and tapped the badge pinned to my chest.
【School Board Trustee】
A quiet reminder of who ran things in this room.
Maybe it was that my refusal had made him lose face in front of Audrey.
His brow knotted, and his voice dropped.
"I'm very unhappy with how you handle things."
"But I'll give you a chance to fix it."
"I'm taking Audrey to a meeting now. When we come back, I expect—"
"—that you'll have made the right choice."
I watched the two of them leave arm in arm, and the last thread of illusion in me snapped.
When a man's rotted through, you don't hang on to him.
"You little tramp, go get me a soda."
The second they were gone, Bobby propped a foot up on the table, insolence all over his face.
His eyes swung to my daughter.
She flinched, hurt welling up until the rims of her eyes went red.
"So this is how you were raised?"
I put her behind me and looked at him coldly. "Given your record, you can leave the school now."
"This is just how I am. You don't like it, you swallow it."
He spat toward me, that little troublemaker's grin on his face.
"Uncle Joe said everything your family has is gonna be mine sooner or later."
"You two are gonna be my big maid and my little maid. Wait on me hand and foot."
I called security.
Bobby jumped straight onto the table, jabbing a finger at me.
"What do you think you're doing!"
"Uncle Joe said anybody who makes me unhappy, he'll deal with them!"
"You think I won't call him right now?"
"Go ahead."
My tone stayed flat and businesslike. "You're expelled. Leave the premises."
"Fine! You just wait!"
He kicked a chair over and stormed out to make his call.
My daughter threw herself into my arms, her voice shaking but steady.
"Mom, whatever you decide, I'm behind you."
She was headed off to college soon. Of course she'd seen what was happening.
Something in me trembled, and I held her close.
"Okay."
"If your father can't be a father, then we don't need him."
Joe came back, exactly as I'd known he would.
He didn't bother signing in at the gate. He rammed straight through the barrier arm and burst inside.
For Audrey's son.
Not even the dignity he prized above everything could hold him back now.
I laughed at myself.
I should have known it would end like this. What had I even been waiting for?
I pushed the bitterness down and called my lawyer.
"Draw up divorce papers for me."
His foot slammed the office door open.
Audrey came in and dropped to her knees, sobbing, tears streaming down her face.
"Miss Pruitt, you have money, you have power. I can't fight you."
"If you have a problem, take it out on me. I'm begging you, don't bully my son. Just because he has no father, does that make it fair for people like you to trample him?"
Quite the accusation to pin on me.
"With your son's conduct, he could be expelled ten times over."
I let my gaze drift, cold, to Joe, who had the grace to look uneasy. "If someone hadn't given false testimony to vouch for Bobby, he'd never have gotten through the front gate."
"Enough, Naomi!"
Joe brought his palm down flat on my desk. "Look at you, all bared teeth. Where's the teacher in that?"
"Apologize to Audrey and Bobby, right now!"
My face didn't change. "Get out, or I'll have officers handle this by the book."
"Naomi, don't push your luck."
