Chapter 3 — The Lie Falls Apart
Chapter 3 — The Lie Falls Apart
Chloe Ashford forced herself to laugh.
"This is ridiculous."
She folded her arms.
"She's just a janitor pretending to know some gangster."
Her voice sounded confident.
Her hands did not.
Headmaster Grant Ellison stepped forward.
"Sir, I assure you—"
Damien raised one finger.
The headmaster stopped speaking.
One of Damien's men walked calmly toward the academy's security office.
Within seconds another returned carrying a small black DVR.
"The cameras weren't broken."
The technician connected the system to the ballroom's enormous projection screen.
Video filled the wall.
The entire room watched in silence.
There was Chloe.
Pouring the matcha onto the floor.
Ordering Maren onto her knees.
Mocking her pregnancy.
Then another recording.
Chloe quietly slipped her Cartier watch into Paige's designer handbag before pretending it had disappeared.
Gasps echoed across the ballroom.
Paige turned white.
"I... I didn't know..."
Another angle appeared.
Chloe violently yanking the trash bag.
Maren slipping.
Falling.
Crashing onto the marble.
No accident.
No misunderstanding.
Everything had been planned.
Parents slowly turned toward the Ashford family.
Phones were no longer recording Maren.
Now they recorded Chloe.
The headmaster's shoulders collapsed.
"I... I can explain."
Damien looked directly at him.
"You watched."
Grant lowered his eyes.
"You did nothing."
May you like
No one defended him.
Not even himself.
