My Family Stole My Run I Returned A Leader Chapter 07
My father frowned.
But in the end, he still picked up his phone and made the call.
The line rang for a long time before connecting.
“Hello, Mr. Lombardi?”
The voice on the other end was cool and professional.
Dad cleared his throat.
“Mr. Carter, I wanted to ask about something.”
“Which community college in Gray Harbor did Paloma enroll in?”
“She had a disagreement with the family and ran off.”
“We’d like to find her at her school.”
There was a brief silence.
Then Mr. Carter gave a short, humorless laugh.
“Community college?”
“Mr. Lombardi, are you joking?”
Dad blinked.
“What do you mean?”
Mr. Carter’s voice was now laced with barely restrained anger.
“Paloma was the student speaker at this year’s graduation ceremony.”
“She earned a perfect score on the territory joint exam.”
“She received offers from several top universities.”
“And you genuinely think she could only get into a community college?”
Everyone in the living room went rigid.
Tony’s eyes widened.
“That’s impossible.”
“She always did terribly on her practice exams at home.”
“How could she have gotten a perfect score on the joint exam?”
Mr. Carter had clearly overheard Tony. His tone hardened.
“Have you ever once looked at her official transcript?”
“When she first transferred from Gray Valley, her foundation was weaker, yes.”
“But by the second half of her senior year, she was already ranked first in her class.”
“She kept asking the academy not to post her rankings to the family account.”
“Because she knew the only thing you would care about was whether Bella would feel bad if she saw it.”