CHAPTER 10: Gregory Harlow Arrives
Gregory Harlow did not ask whether his son was okay. He looked first at the crowd, then at the principal, then at Ethan. His eyes settled there with immediate accusation, as if Ethan’s smallness made him easier to blame.
“What did he do to my boy?” Gregory demanded.
Blake pointed from the mat. “He threw me, Dad.”
Gregory’s face hardened. “Then he’s done here.”
Claire stood. She was much shorter than Gregory, but grief and motherhood had made her spine stronger than his money. “Your son grabbed mine first.”
Gregory looked at her clinic badge, her worn purse, her practical shoes. His mouth curved slightly, not into a smile but into dismissal. “And you are?”
“His mother.”
“That explains the attitude.”
The insult landed in the gym like a slap. Ethan stood so quickly Coach Ramirez put a hand in front of him.
James moved before Claire could answer. “Careful.”
Gregory finally noticed him. “Who are you?”
“James Calloway. District safety auditor.”
The words did not impress Gregory the way he expected them to. “Then audit something else. This is between families.”
“No,” James said. “This happened at a school assembly, under staff supervision, during a district event. That makes it everybody’s business.”
Gregory turned to Whitaker. “Suspend the Miller kid. Today.”
Whitaker swallowed. “We’re reviewing the situation.”
“Review faster.”
Blake’s mother stepped beside her husband, all diamonds and controlled fury. “Our attorney is already on the way.”
Hannah held up her red phone. “Good. I have the video.”
Gregory looked at her as if seeing a crack in a wall he owned.
“What video?” he asked.
“The one where Blake starts it,” Hannah said.
Blake’s smile disappeared.
Gregory extended his hand. “Give it to me.”
Hannah stepped back.
James stepped forward.
May you like
“No one touches that phone,” he said.
For once, Gregory Harlow heard a boundary he could not buy his way through.
