Chapter 323
The Headmaster’s office smelled of old leather and furniture polish. Portraits of dead men lined the walls.
Isolde sat in a chair with Effie on her lap. Effie had buried her face in Isolde’s neck.
The door opened.
Grayson entered. Belle was right behind him.
𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗣𝗗𝗙𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Belle swept past everyone and went straight to the corner where Kaiden sat playing on a Nintendo Switch.
“Kaiden!” Belle cried. “Are you okay? Did she hit you?”
Kaiden looked up. Instant tears filled his eyes.
“Effie started it!” he wailed. “She scratched me!”
Isolde rose from her chair. “She has a bruised rib and a bleeding knee. He has nothing.”
Grayson looked at Effie. He saw the bandage on her knee and flinched.
“Effie,” he said softly. “Did you hit your brother?”
“He is not her brother,” Isolde cut in. “And don’t interrogate the victim.”
The Headmaster cleared his throat. “Mr. Lancaster, it appears to have been a mutual altercation.”
“Show me the CCTV,” Isolde said. “The playground has cameras. I installed that system myself three years ago.”
The Headmaster began to sweat. He loosened his tie.
“Ah. About that,” he stammered. “The system was undergoing maintenance today.”
Isolde stared at him. “Maintenance.”
“The footage is unavailable,” the Headmaster said.
Isolde let out a short, dark laugh. She pulled out her phone and began tapping rapidly, a cold, analytical gleam entering her eyes.
“Unavailable to whom?” she asked, her voice dangerously calm. “This system runs on a cloud-based architecture I personally designed. The local server may be under maintenance, but the data pipeline to the off-site backup is always active. Unless someone deliberately wiped the entire cloud — which would trigger a dozen alarms — the footage exists. Give me the administrative login, or I will access it myself right now. My team can have it retrieved and verified within the hour. I can pull the raw telemetry from the camera feeds to confirm the timestamp and file integrity, even if the video itself is corrupted.” She looked at him steadily. “Unavailable — or deleted?”
Belle stood, smoothing Kaiden’s hair. “Why are you so paranoid? Kids fight. Kaiden was defending himself.”
Grayson looked between the two women. He wanted this to disappear. He wanted peace.
“Isolde,” he said. “Don’t make a scene. I’ll pay for Effie’s medical bills. Whatever she needs.”
Isolde looked at him with pure disgust.
“You think money fixes this?” she said. “I want Kaiden suspended. Per the zero-tolerance policy.”
“Suspension is quite severe,” the Headmaster said quickly. “Perhaps counseling would be more appropriate?”
“Agreed,” Grayson said, nodding. “Counseling for both.”
“You are equating a bully with a victim,” Isolde said.
“I’m being fair,” Grayson insisted. “We don’t have proof.”
Isolde stepped closer to the desk.
“I’ll get proof,” she said. “I am an engineer. I know how data works. If that drive was wiped, I will find out.”
The Headmaster looked terrified. Grayson looked annoyed.
“Stop threatening the school, Isolde,” he warned.
Isolde picked Effie up and held her daughter close.
“I’m taking her home,” she said. “This isn’t over.”
She walked out.
.
.