Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
It was time. She needed to know.
The stress of exams were gone. Tallulah was better. And I also couldn’t hold the guilt in any longer.
She needed to know.
“Hadley was the one to accuse me of rape.”
She gasped, and I realized rather quickly that she hadn’t even contemplated the thought that it could possibly be Hadley.
She’d known it was a student, of course, but Hadley hadn’t crossed her mind. That I could see instantly.
“You’re joking.” She moaned.
I shook my head.
“No.”
She reached into her pocket for her phone, pulling it out.
She placed it to her ear, and I knew instantly what she was doing.
“She’s gone underground, baby.” I told her. “When you confirmed in a text that you’d seen Hadley and something had happened, Big Papa and Aaron went to the school to question her. She’s nowhere to be found.”
She angrily smashed the pad of her finger against the red phone button on the screen.
“I can’t believe this.” She snarled out. “I’m going to kill her!”
I held my hand over her mouth, then dropped a kiss onto her forehead. “Trust me. I’ll find her. Don’t get involved.”
I could tell she wanted to argue. To rant and rave.
But she didn’t.
She breathed out roughly, then nodded her head. “Fine.”
The anger she had over the accusation against me was enough to make my heart happy, even though I wanted nothing more than to find Hadley and wring her stupid neck.
I grinned.
“That night that you were taken in, she called. And today, before the exam, she kept looking at me like I would blow up at any second. Now, at least, I know why.”
“Has she tried to reach you?” I asked. “Since that night?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I…”
“Ms. Slater, just the woman we were looking for. We were going to ask you to come to this meeting, although, it was my understanding that you were in a final exam.”
I looked up to find Lucia standing there, her arms crossed high over her chest, frowning at the two of us, probably because of how close we were to each other.
I looked past her and saw the other two fourth-semester teachers, as well as the dean of the campus, in the room beyond her, and I started to get a really bad feeling.
“What’s going on?” Tally asked, entering the glass walled room when Lucia waved her hand for us to pass.
“We’re investigating a few other matters,” the dean, Martin Kall, started the moment the doors closed behind us. “We’ve been enlightened to an, um, disturbing situation.”
My brows rose.
“Another?” Tally snottily replied, back straightening. “Or is this the same allegation of Dr. Tomirkanivov raping a student…Hadley Dunston? Which, might I add, is not true?”
Martin’s face pinched.
“That’s not what we’re here to discuss today,” he snapped. “What we’re here to discuss is an inappropriate relationship between you and a teacher.”
He let his gaze shift from me to Tally and back, his eyes doing what his mouth did not, and Tally’s mouth dropped open.
“And what proof do you have of this alleged inappropriate relationship?” I gritted through clenched teeth, crossing my arms over my chest. “Was this accusation made by the same person who also falsely accused me of rape?”
Martin’s face paled and I knew I was right, despite him not agreeing nor disagreeing.
“I’ll go ahead and inform you that all classes that Dr. Tomirkanivov taught this year are under review,” Martin continued, pushing through with his diatribe. “And all tests that were taken by you that were administered by him will also be reviewed to ensure that there has been no special treatment considered upon you, given your inappropriate relationship.”
I could feel the anger rolling off of Tally, and I wanted to hold her hand to calm her down so she could control her reactions.
“I cannot believe that you’re doing this to Dr. Tomirkanivov.” Tally crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s a highly-respected teacher and hasn’t done anything in the classroom that was untoward to anyone, including me. He’s been nothing but professional while we were in school and at the hospital. Whomever is making these accusations is mistaken. Dr. Tomirkanivov is an excellent teacher whom I’ve learned a great deal from, and any future nursing students would be lucky to have him.”
My heart swelled in my chest as I tried not to smile at the things she was saying, and the things she wasn’t saying.
Like how I wasn’t very professional when we were outside of this setting.
Such as when I was fucking her in my bed…or hers.
“Until we can review all of your tests, your diploma will be held,” Lucia started to say. “Unless you have any…”
“You can’t disqualify her grades in my class,” I murmured, breaking into the conversation. “She only had one test in my course, and that was re-administered in the library two days later by one of the aides, who was there the whole time to supervise. Where, you should know, Ms. Dunston, who I presume is the one making these allegations, was not in attendance, so don’t even try to go there, Martin.”