Chapter 2

2: 2

Milton frowned.

The vice principal spoke up quickly too. "Lawyer Edwards, let me say my piece as well."

"The school will expel Les. As for going to the police, maybe we can drop that."

"You can't expel him. If my son gets expelled, his whole future is ruined."

My mother looked at Milton. "Milton, I'm begging you. Just say the word. I'll pay whatever it takes. Just say the word, please?"

"Mom, do you actually believe I'd do something like this?" I stepped forward to pull her up.

She shook off my hand. When she looked at me, it was with heartbreak, with helplessness, with despair.

I thought of what my grandmother had said before she died, gripping my mother's hand.

"My girl, we can't win against him.

Let it go. Move somewhere else and start over.

Keep fighting him and you'll be the one who suffers. It'll hurt Les too."

After my father went to prison, my mother never gave up trying to clear his name.

But the result was that Milton's reputation only grew, while my mother became the one everyone wanted to spit on.

Still, she never stopped believing my father had been framed.

Just like the way she was looking at me now. She knew I'd been framed.

But she was also certain Milton had covered every angle, that there was no way to prove my innocence.

She didn't dare keep fighting. She only wanted to save me.

"Milton, say the word. Les will drop law. He'll transfer to any department you want, as long as he stays in school. Just say the word."

When Milton didn't budge, she came to pull at me again. "Kneel down and beg your uncle's forgiveness."

Milton spoke. "If kneeling earned forgiveness, then what would be the point of the law?"

"Milton, are you really going to drive a widow and her son to their deaths?"

"Les is your own nephew."

Milton's face stayed hard. "Being weak is no excuse for a crime."

"And family is no license to do whatever you please."

"Who called the police?" Just then, the police arrived.