ISLA POV
The leather seats of the SUV were quiet and cold beneath us. Outside the tinted windows, the black news vans parked along Sakura Elementary’s fence line vanished into the distance.
Ruby sat right beside me, holding my trembling hand in both of hers, squeezing tightly every time I let out a ragged breath.
"I can't believe Vance did this to you," Ruby said, her voice shaking with a dangerous, protective heat. "Placing you on leave while that scumbag Dylan does TV interviews on courthouse steps? It's sick, Isla."
I pulled my phone from my pocket and tapped James’s contact screen and hit call.
He answered on the second ring. "Isla. Where are you?"
"I'm in the car with Ruby and Elena," I sobbed, my voice breaking completely. "Vance, the principal of the school where I work, put
