Chapter 68 The Truth

Chapter 68 The Truth
“I didn’t and how can you frame me like that, Principal Steele? They were bullying me!”

Sophie immediately shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again as she tried to maintain the innocent image she had been hiding behind.

Sophie voice trembled with just enough fear to make her sound like the victim, but Principal Steele wasn't buying it. “Answer me this, Sophie. Did you start the fight?”

His voice was harsh, carrying the unmistakable weight of authority and there was no sympathy in his eyes as he stared directly at her....... Sophie froze.

For the first time, the fear she felt wasn't an act and a chill ran down her spine as she struggled to come up with an answer.

She couldn't admit the truth, but she couldn't lie so easily either.....not when the principal was looking at her as if he already knew everything.

“Help me, Professor,” she pleaded, turning toward Professor Steele.

She desperately clung to him as her last source of support, hoping he would speak on her behalf but the Professor remained silent.

He had noticed something important, Sophie hadn't answered the question.

A small doubt began forming in his mind. Until now, he had believed her because of the way she had presented herself. She looked delicate and vulnerable, and he had assumed Liora and Mara must have been the aggressors but why was Sophie avoiding such a simple question?

“You leave me no choice, then.”

The Principal turned toward the doorway. “You can come in now.”

Three students entered the office and Sophie’s heart dropped the moment she saw them.

Principal Steele looked at them calmly. “Tell me what happened.”

One of the students stepped forward. “After school, we happened to see Sophie bothering Liora. They argued for a while before Sophie slapped Mara. Mara defended herself, and Liora backed her up. They were only teaching Sophie a lesson when the professor arrived.”

The professor forehead immediately broke out in cold sweat because e had been fooled.

Sophie's innocent, doll-like appearance had completely influenced his judgment. He had assumed someone who looked so delicate couldn't possibly be the one who started a fight.

Now he realized how wrong he had been. Sophie, meanwhile, had gone completely pale.

She never expected Principal Steele to investigate the matter this thoroughly, much less bring witnesses to confirm what had happened. “No!” she blurted out in panic. “They're lying! They're helping Liora frame me!”

She refused to accept defeat and as long as she didn't admit she was guilty, there was still a chance she could escape.

At worst, she would have to give up her demand for compensation. “I knew you would deny it.”

Everyone turned toward Dominic who remained seated in his wheelchair, completely composed despite the tension filling the office.

His masked face revealed little, but his eyes were sharp enough to make Sophie's heart pound. “So I went to obtain video evidence.”

Sophie's breath caught as Mr. Lawrence entered the office with his phone in hand and immediately played the video of the incident in the cafeteria.

The footage showed exactly what had happened and there was no room left for Sophie to twist the truth.

Earlier, Mr. Lawrence had been searching for the footage while also locating Principal Steele. Dominic had anticipated that Sophie would continue blaming Liora and Mara, so he had made sure there was undeniable evidence.

Principal Steele looked at Sophie. “Are you going to deny your guilt again?”

Sophie's face became even paler beneath her makeup but she had nowhere left to run.

“They insulted me first,” she sobbed. “I was so angry, I wasn't thinking…”

“You were the one who started it,” Mara quickly interjected. “Why would we insult you for no reason?”

Sophie didn't respond and she simply continued crying, allowing the tears to run down her cheeks. She knew the evidence was against her, but she still hoped her tears would earn her some sympathy.

Unfortunately, Sophie had chosen the wrong person to manipulate. Dominic wasn't the kind of man who could be swayed by tears or fooled by a trembling voice. He remained perfectly composed in his wheelchair, watching her performance with a level of calm that made her desperation even more obvious.

“Earlier, she said that she should be compensated for being attacked,” he said calmly, his voice wasn't loud, yet every word carried enough weight to silence the room. There was no anger in his tone, no need to raise his voice or make a dramatic display. He simply stated the facts, leaving Sophie to deal with the consequences of her own words.

His gaze settled on her. “In that case, she should compensate them for landing the first blow but how much do you think is appropriate?”

The question left Sophie completely speechless and her lips parted, but nothing came out. She had been so confident when she demanded compensation for being slapped. At the time, she had believed everyone would naturally take her side.

She had expected her tears, her accusations, and her carefully maintained image of innocence to be enough to make Liora and Mara look like the aggressors but now, Dominic had taken the very argument she had used against them and turned it back on her.

There was no escaping the logic of it. If she deserved compensation because she had been slapped, then Liora and Mara deserved compensation too, because she had been the one to throw the first blow.

Her own demand had suddenly become the very thing working against her.

Sophie swallowed hard, her face tightening as she struggled to find something to say but nothing came.

For the first time since the confrontation began, she couldn't find a convincing excuse or another way to twist the situation.

The tears still clung to her lashes, but they no longer gave her the advantage she had hoped for and Dominic had seen straight through her.

If Sophie wanted compensation for the slap she had received, then she had to be prepared to compensate Liora and Mara for the attack she had started there was no way around it and as the reality finally sank in, Sophie felt the last bit of control slipping through her fingers.

For the first time, she realized she had completely lost control of the situation.