She looked over at Emily Blair. Standing amidst the cluster of teachers and

administrators, Emily's slight, fragile figure seemed even more helpless and out of place. A pang of regret and sympathy twisted in her chest.

Maybe she really shouldn't have let Emily come here.

Emily absorbed the principal's anger in silence, her voice steady as she finally

spoke. “So, what do you all think should happen here?"

The principal raised a hand and gestured at the dean. "You handle this. Just seeing her makes my blood boil."

The dean cleared his throat. "Of course, Principal."

He turned his gaze on Emily, chin lifted, eyes cold and assessing there was nothing warm or welcoming in his stare.

"Emily, you know this whole situation started because of you. We called you here to resolve it. Do you have any objection to that?"

Emily replied calmly, "I'll do my best to cooperate with what you need."

Yes, the school's attitude toward her had always been harsh. Other students had isolated and insulted her. But all that chaos had nothing to do with today's problem.

This incident really was her fault. The kind of malice that should have been aimed directly at her had, thanks to Isabella Austin's rabid fans, spilled over onto innocent people.

She couldn't deny her responsibility.

The dean's expression softened, just a little, and he nodded. "Good. As long as you admit it."

"You probably know," he continued, "that our school has a connection with Mr. Lane. He's donated a building and scholarship funds to us and our students." The dean's tone turned obsequious. "So when this all came up, we had to bite the bullet and ask Mr. Lane for his opinion."

He remembered clearly the phone call he'd made that morning to Andrew Lane's assistant.

He'd chosen his timing carefully-not too early, not too late. At ten o'clock, he dialed the number. After a couple of rings, someone picked up. The assistant's voice was calm and businesslike. "Who's speaking?"

The dean had adopted his most deferential tone. Even though he was only speaking to Mr. Lane's assistant, anyone who could get a word in with Andrew Lane was someone worth impressing.

“Hello, I'm the dean at Emily Blair's school. I'm wondering if Mr. Lane is available—I have some questions about Emily Blair I'd like to discuss with him."

The assistant replied, “Mr. Lane is in a meeting right now. If you tell me what this is about, I'll pass it along to him."

“Oh, of course, thank you. I'll explain," the dean said nervously.

He hesitated, then continued, "As you may know, there's been a lot of drama online about Emily Blair. People are furious about what happened. The school's opinion is that Emily really did wrong Ms. Austin. Ms. Austin is such a good person—how could Emily bully her like that, to the point where Ms. Austin's been struggling with depression? We're all heartbroken about it. The school has to take some responsibility; we clearly failed to teach Emily properly, and now she's done something so hurtful to Ms. Austin."

"I just wanted to ask-how is Ms. Austin doing now? It's not just me, everyone at the school is concerned about her. We're all on her side, and we hope she recovers soon."

The assistant listened quietly, not interrupting once. The dean had expected his sincerity to move the man on the other end, but the assistant's voice remained cool and composed throughout.