A Joke That Went Too Far Chapter 05
My dad’s fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
He took one breath, then turned to the dean and laid it down, one word at a time.
“From this moment on, Shaw Group will withdraw from every project with this institution.”
“Furthermore, I’m putting the word out across the industry. Every investor on my list is going to know exactly what kind of place you’ve been running.
“Tomorrow morning, I am transferring my daughter.”
The dean’s face turned pale. “Mr. Shaw-please, this is a misunderstanding.”
At that moment, someone in the crowd muttered just loud enough to be heard, “So for the sake of investment, the dean doesn’t even care about his own daughter anymore?”
The dean spun around, eyes blazing.
“Who said I have a daughter?! I only have one son!”
He pointed at Tara, kneeling on the floor.
“You impersonated my daughter and damaged the school’s reputation. I will hold you fully responsible.”
Then he bowed to my father. “Mr. Shaw, please calm down. I will give you a proper explanation.”
“I have never met this girl in my life. The fact that she has been pretending to be my daughter is news to me, and frankly, it makes me sicker than it makes you.”
He turned back on Tara, voice climbing. “What are you still doing there? Get over here and explain
yourself.”
The whole hallway went still.
For the first time, the people who had been hanging on Tara’s every word seemed to register that she was a fake. Cassidy and Holly looked at each other and started inching backwards, very slowly.
Tara flinched at the dean’s shout. Tears started running down her face. “Sir, I was wrong. I just lost my head for a moment. Please give me another chance.”
She was crying so hard she looked like she might faint, yet not one of the people who had defended her earlier stepped forward to help.
A sharp pain shot up from my leg, and I let out a quiet gasp.
My dad looked down at me. “Sophia, does it hurt? I’ll take you to the hospital first.”
Then he turned to the dean, his expression cold. “If anything happens to my daughter, I will burn this
school to the ground.”
I gritted my teeth and shook my head.
I knew Tara too well. If we did not clear this up now, she would not give up.
I found a chair and sat down.
“No, Dad. I need to settle this first. Otherwise she’ll twist the story again later.”
I handed him one of the flyers. His brows furrowed immediately. “Isn’t this from our own supplier? What’s going on here?”
He pulled out his phone and called the print shop directly.
Twenty minutes later, the print-shop owner came running across the lawn, calling out as he came. “Mr. Shaw. Mr. Shaw. What’s going on? You sounded urgent…”
He did not get to finish. My dad threw the flyer at his face. “You. Who told you to print my daughter on
this?”
Michael Lang, the printer, picked up the flyer, looked at the picture, looked at me, and went pale. “M-Mr. Shaw. I-I print to spec. Someone messaged me online and sent over a stack of photos. They asked for the
layout.
“They told me to make ‘College Girl, $100 a round’ nice and big at the top. I had no idea this was your daughter.”
The vein in my dad’s forehead was bulging. “Pull up the chat. Right now.”
I smiled faintly and handed my phone to the dean.
“Since it was done online, that makes things easier. Why don’t you take a look?”
Tara stuttered. “C-chat logs can be deleted…”
Before she could finish, the dean snatched the phone from her hand.
At the same moment, Michael pulled up the chat history with the customer.
