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“I really have a lot of respect for you, Teresa,” Lysander said as he walked over and patted her on the shoulder. “When I first saw your photo, I thought, you’re absolutely stunning. Honestly, you caught my eye the very first time I saw you.”
Teresa coolly brushed his hand off her shoulder, her fist tightening at her side. “Thank you, Mr. Carrington. Whether I get a permanent position or not doesn’t matter to me. What matters most is being a good role model for the students. Don’t you think so?”
Lysander chuckled, clearly catching her meaning, and looked at her like she was some helpless little bird. “You’re pretty tough, Teresa. Are you sure you don’t want a permanent spot? Take a look at this.”
He pulled a gold toad out of his drawer. “A parent gave me this. It’s worth sixty thousand. If you like it, I’ll give it to you. I can get you even more expensive things–whatever you want, we can work something out.”
“I’m not interested in that kind of stuff. My husband already buys me plenty. We have lots at home.”
“Lying sets a bad example for the kids, Teresa. Your résumé says you’re single, remember?”
Lysander couldn’t help but let his eyes roam over Teresa’s figure. “It’s not easy for a woman to make it on her own, is it? These days, what woman doesn’t like money? With me around, you’d never have to worry about that.”
Before he could finish, Teresa had already raised her phone. “Mr. Carrington, I thought you called me here for work. Turns out you’re just harassing me. I’ve recorded everything you just said.
“If you keep this up or try anything worse, I’ll call the police. You won’t be able to keep your job.”
Lysander let out a soft laugh. “Call the police? I don’t think you have the guts–unless you don’t want to work in Everport anymore.”
“Then I won’t. I’m not afraid of you.” Teresa had already turned and walked out.
Back in the office, Teresa acted like nothing had happened, but honestly, there was no way she wasn’t pissed. She’d just started working at this school and already ran into this kind of nonsense.
She used to think shady deals and unspoken rules were just a business world thing. Turns out, anywhere people gather, one’ll find the same old tricks. It’s all the same, no matter where one goes.
Her coworkers said Lysander’s family was pretty influential. Otherwise, with his lack of qualifications, there’s no way he’d be in charge. Teresa told herself she wasn’t scared, but that was just putting on a brave face.
This was Everport, not Nareigh. If she were back in Nareigh, she wouldn’t be worried at all.
But here she was, in a strange city, not knowing how things worked, and on top of that, she was a single mom.
Right now, she was just glad she’d put “single” on her job application and hadn’t mentioned her kid. That was definitely the right call.
Her child was her biggest weakness. She was terrified someone might use her kid to threaten her, to force her hand.
She didn’t care what happened to herself, but if anyone dared to use her child against her, she’d fight back with everything. she had.
Teresa was just thinking about it when she unlocked her phone to check the home security camera. Michael was standing in front of the camera, talking to it. “Mom, why didn’t you wake me up? Why didn’t you take me to kindergarten?”
She could hear everything going on at home through the monitor, but no matter what she said, the little guy couldn’t hear her.
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So Teresa pulled out her phone and called to comfort him. “Sorry, sweetie. You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you. There’s food in the pot–I made some corn porridge. If you’re hungry, have some, okay?”
Just as she was speaking, a teacher walked in. It was Tina, the sixth–grade language arts teacher, from her office. She smiled. and asked Teresa, “Who are you on the phone with?”
“No one,” Teresa said, hanging up.
“Really? I thought you were talking to your boyfriend. Teresa, you’re so pretty. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Teresa replied, already putting her phone away.
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