“What kind of attitude is that? Is this how a parent behaves? Covering for him, making excuses. No wonder you raised a son like this!”
Just then, the office door was shoved open.
My husband, Keith Dickerson, came rushing in, out of breath.
The moment he stepped through the door, without asking a single thing about what had happened, he went straight for Christian.
“Crack!”
A ringing slap.
Christian's head snapped to the side, half his face going red in an instant.
“Dad?”
Christian held his cheek, staring at him in disbelief.
“Don't call me that! I don't have a disgraceful son like you!”
Keith jabbed a finger in Christian's face, cursing at the top of his lungs.
“I sent you to college for this? To pull some sleazy stunt like this? You've dragged my name through the mud!”
With that, he turned to Roland, his back bending in an instant, his face crowded with a fawning smile.
“Advisor Lambert, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. This is my failure as a father.”
Roland's expression eased a little.
“Mr. Dickerson, at least you're reasonable. This is a very ugly matter. If it blows up and the police get involved, Christian's whole future is ruined.”
At the word police, Keith's legs went weak.
He waved his hands frantically.
“No, no, no, whatever you do, don't call the police! I have money, I can settle this.”
Roland let out a sigh.
“For the sake of Christian being the state's top science scorer, I don't want to ruin him either. Here's what we'll do.”
He looked at Layla.
“Layla, you've been wronged. But if the police really get involved, it won't do your reputation any good either. Better to have Christian apologize to you and offer you some financial compensation.”
Layla raised her head, her eyes swimming with tears.
“Advisor Lambert, I don't want money…… I'm not doing this for money……”
She bit her lip, the very picture of someone humiliated to the core.
“I just think it's unfair. Why should someone with such rotten character get to represent the freshmen and give the speech, and take a full ride on the top merit scholarship?”
So this was what she'd been waiting for all along.
The instant Keith heard that money and the slot would settle it, he wheeled around and glared at Christian.
“What are you standing there for? Get over there and kneel and apologize! We don't want that scholarship, whatever it's called. The speaker slot, we'll give it to her too!”
He came over, reaching out to force Christian's neck down.
“Hurry up! Smooth this over, don't let it hurt my company's business!”
I stood up, grabbed Keith's wrist, and flung it off with all my strength.
Keith glared at me. “What do you think you're doing!”
I looked coldly at this cowardly, selfish man.
“What am I doing?”
“My son did nothing. Why should he apologize? Why should he give up the scholarship?”
“Desiree, have you lost your mind!”
Keith dropped his voice into a snarl.
“Do you want your son to go to prison? Do you want me to be a laughingstock in front of my business partners!”
I ignored him.
I walked over to Layla and looked at her.
“Layla, you're certain it was my son Christian who tried to assault you in the fire exit stairwell on the north side of the library?”
Layla shrank back, her eyes darting away.
“Yes……”
“What time exactly?” I pressed, step by step.
“Around…… around one thirty in the afternoon……”
“What was he wearing?”
“A white…… a white T-shirt, black sweatpants.”
Her description was remarkably accurate.
“Was there anyone else in the stairwell at the time?”
“No…… no one ever uses that stairwell, and the camera's broken……”
The moment the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize she'd let something slip. She clapped a hand over it and started crying again.
“Ma'am, please stop pushing me…… I'm really so scared……”
