Before Kota could open his mouth to deliver whatever carefully crafted lie he had been rehearsing in his head, the board representative spoke first. His voice was calm and measured, the kind of voice that belonged to someone who had conducted a hundred interrogations just like this one and had never once lost.
"My name is Kevin Henders. I'm the district's chief compliance officer, and I've been tasked with investigating the anonymous tips submitted to the board late last night." He folded his hands on top of the stack of papers, his tight bun not moving a single millimeter as he tilted his head toward Theo.
"Principal Hawthorne. Let's start with something simple. Are you currently involved in a romantic or sexual relationship with a student at Westfield High?"
Theo froze. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. No sound came out. His hands were trembling on the table, his knuckles white, his eyes darting toward Kota with a desperate, pleading expression.
He was a terrible liar under pressure.
He had always been a terrible liar under pressure. The stutter, the blushing, the way his brain emptied completely the moment someone asked him a direct question—it was all happening at once, and it was painful to watch.
Kota reached over and took Theo's hand under the table, giving it a firm, grounding squeeze. He nodded once, a small, almost imperceptible gesture that said "I'm here, I've got you, just breathe."
Theo took a shaky breath and looked Kevin Henders directly in the eye. "No."
The word came out steadier than Kota expected. It wasn't confident, but it wasn't a stutter either. It was a single, simple denial that hung in the air between them.
Kevin smiled. It was not a friendly smile. It was the smile of a shark that had just smelled blood in the water.
"That seems to be false, Principal Hawthorne. Mr. Delago here has provided a sworn statement that he witnessed you and this student—" he gestured toward Kota with one manicured finger, "—engaged in a romantic kiss in the school parking lot yesterday morning. Would you care to revise your answer?"
Kota closed his eyes. The words echoed in his head like a death knell. It's so over. It's so unbelievably joever. They were cooked. Done. Finished.
Theo was going to get fired, Sebastian was going to get deported or whatever happened to disgraced Oxford graduates, and Kota was going to have to explain to his dad why he was at the center of a school board investigation.
The whole house of cards was collapsing, and it was collapsing fast.
Theo's face had gone pale. His hand was gripping Kota's so tightly it was cutting off circulation. "I—I didn't—that wasn't—we weren't—"
Kota's brain kicked into survival mode. He straightened up in his chair, met Kevin's cold gaze, and spoke with a calm he absolutely did not feel.
"Mr. Henders. Calling three people in for questioning at six in the morning with no prior notice is not very professional. My friends here haven't even had their coffee. I'm requesting an additional ten minutes for preparation before you continue this line of questioning."
Kevin's smile didn't waver, but his eyes flickered with something that might have been annoyance or might have been respect. "This is an internal investigation, not a court of law. I'm not required to give you preparation time."
"No, but you're required to follow the district's own guidelines for staff treatment, which include reasonable accommodation for early morning meetings. Ten minutes. That's all I'm asking."
The two of them stared at each other for a long, tense moment. Then Kevin nodded once, a sharp, curt motion. "Ten minutes. But Principal Hawthorne and Mr. Rupert are not permitted to exit this room until the investigation is complete."
"Fine," Kota said, already standing up. He gave Theo's hand one last squeeze and stepped out of the conference room, pulling the door shut behind him.
The hallway was empty and silent, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. Kota paced back and forth, his mind racing. The investigation was a joke.
A complete and utter joke. He knew for a fact that every school in the district had staff who regularly had sex with students in ways that were far more egregious than anything he and Theo had done.
The vice principal at Velridge High had been arrested just last year for grooming after having inappropriate relations with a fifteen year old student.
The head of the math department at Eastbrook had been caught running an OnlyFans where half his subscribers were his own students. The athletic director at Lauterside had been organizing orgies in the locker rooms for years and everyone knew about it and nobody did anything.
It was cherrypicking. Pure, targeted, hypocritical cherrypicking. Their relationship was the one that got investigated? Not the actual predators? Not the groomers? Not the ones who were actually hurting students? It was absurd. It was infuriating. If only he knew someone with enough media presence to get that information out there. Someone who knew all the gossip, all the scandals, all the dirty laundry that the school board wanted to keep hidden. Someone who could dig up dirt on every single person in that conference room and make sure it went public. Someone like—
Oh wait.
He pulled out his phone and called Riley.
The phone rang once. Twice. On the third ring, Riley picked up, his voice dripping with smug satisfaction. "Kota. I knew you'd eventually come crawling back. Let me guess, you finally realized you can't live without this ass and you're calling to beg for a quickie? Because my schedule is wide open. Dennis is still sick. I've got nothing but time and an empty hole that needs filling."
"I need a favor," Kota said, cutting through the flirting.
Riley's tone shifted instantly, the playfulness giving way to curiosity. "A favor? From me? The great Kota Abdel, the man with the monster cock who can have anyone he wants, is asking me for a favor? This has got to be good. What's going on?"
"I need you to find all the news stories, all the social media posts, all the evidence you can dig up about teachers and staff in this district dating or fucking students. Every scandal. Every coverup. Every single one that's been buried or ignored. Can you do that?"
Riley was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was slow and calculating. "That's a big ask, Kota. That's the kind of favor that takes real effort. Real time. Real resources. What do I get in return?"
"Anything," Kota said, the word slipping out before he could stop it. "I'll do anything. Whatever you want. Just please, Riley. I need this."
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. Then Riley let out a low, delighted laugh. "Anything? You said anything? Oh, Kota. You should not have said that. You really, really should not have said that. But fine. I'll hold you to it. You owe me a favor. A big one. And I'm going to cash it in when you least expect it. But for now, let me work my magic."
Kota could hear the sound of Riley's fingers flying across a keyboard in the background, rapid and precise. The kid was a social media savant. If anyone could dig up dirt on every hypocrite in the district, it was him.
"Let's see," Riley murmured, half to himself. "You want the good stuff? The really juicy stuff? Because I've got a lot. The superintendent at Eastbrook was caught sexting three different seniors last spring. Never got reported because his brother is on the city council. The head of the science department at Lauterside has been running a private Snapchat where he posts nudes for his students. One of them leaked it to me last month.
The athletic director at Velridge—the one who replaced the guy who got arrested—he's been soliciting students on Grindr for over a year. I've got screenshots. The district compliance officer—"
"Wait," Kota interrupted, his heart suddenly pounding. "What did you just say? About the compliance officer?"
"I said I've got stuff on the compliance officer. Why? Is that who you're dealing with? What's his name?"
"Kevin Henders."
The line went silent. Then Riley burst out laughing. It wasn't a chuckle or a giggle. It was a full throated, wheezing, tears streaming down his face kind of laugh that went on for a solid thirty seconds. "Kevin Henders? THE Kevin Henders? The guy with the tight bun and the stick up his ass who acts like he's better than everyone? That Kevin Henders?"
"Yeah," Kota said slowly. "That's the one. Why? What do you know about him?"
"Kota. Kota, Kota, Kota. You sweet, innocent, bless your heart." Riley was still laughing, his voice breaking with every word.
"Kevin Henders is the biggest slut in the entire district. That man has been passed around more times than a blunt at a house party. He's been fucked by half the board of education. The other half is on his waiting list."
"You're joking."
"I never joke about sex scandals. That's like my one rule. Hold on, I'm sending you something right now."
Kota's phone buzzed with an incoming file. A video. Fifty minutes long, according to the timestamp. He pressed play, keeping the volume low, and watched with widening eyes as the footage unfolded. It was Kevin Henders. The same Kevin Henders who was currently in the conference room interrogating Theo and Sebastian.
The same Kevin Henders who had smiled like a shark and asked if Theo was dating a student. And he was on his knees in what looked like a board office, surrounded by four other men in suits, as they took turns fucking his face. His tight bun was coming undone, his expression was pure ecstasy, and his voice, God, his voice, was moaning between thrusts, "I'm the worst of them all. I'm the biggest hypocrite. I investigate teachers for doing exactly what I do every weekend. Don't stop. Please don't stop. I'm such a slut for the board. I'm such a filthy little slut for the entire board."
Kota stared at his phone with the expression of a man who had just discovered buried treasure. No, not just buried treasure. A treasure chest filled with gold doubloons and diamond crowns and the fucking Ark of the Covenant. This was it. This was the nuclear option. This was the thing that would make Kevin Henders drop this investigation so fast his head would spin.
"Riley," Kota said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Riley, I owe you so many favors. So many. Name it. Anything. A hundred quickies. A thousand. I'll buy you a car. I'll buy you a house. I'll let you do that thing (You know the thing, yes that thing). Whatever you want. Whatever you want, it's yours."
Riley's laugh was bright and delighted. "I'm going to hold you to that, Kota. Every single word. But right now, go destroy that hypocrite. And call me later to tell me how it went. I want to hear every detail." He hung up, still laughing.
Kota stood in the empty hallway, clutching his phone like a weapon, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face. Kevin Henders wanted to play games? Fine. They could play games. And Kota had just drawn the winning card.