a thirty-minute rant once during the beginning of the semester on how politicians used their money and power to get away with anything. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what I expected given her role as the political science department head—she studied politics and political scandals for years. If I didn’t need the elective, I would have avoided her and her reputation at all costs given who I was related to, but I had no choice by the time class signups were available. Evidently, I didn’t have the money or power to get out of it. Not anymore.
Relief filled me when I answered the final question and closed the packet. Stuffing my pen in the side pocket of my bag, I stood and walked the test up to her desk where she watched me carefully. “Finally finished?”
Teeth grinding, I nodded.
“Did you study for this?”
“Yes.” I paused. “Not as much as I would have liked.”
She looked at me with bored eyes.
“Can I ask you something, professor?” I was surprised by my own inquiry, but not as much as she was considering I tended to avoid any conversation with her if I could help it. When she didn’t answer, I went ahead and continued. “What did I ever do to you? Not my father. Not my family. But me.”
She blinked slowly, her body leaning back in her chair as she tilted her head. I didn’t like being studied, it made me uncomfortable, and she knew that. “You don’t try.”
My lips parted at the unexpected answer. “What?”
She repeated herself and added, “I’ve taught many people like you, Adele. Some of them worse, some of them far better. But you always folded into yourself when things got tough.”
“That isn’t true.”
“No?” She stood, flattening her hands down the purple blouse she wore. “I gave you the benefit of the doubt given the circumstances, which I’m certainly not known to do, but I thought I saw potential in you. However, I realized you were no different than others raised privileged. People go through far worse things and still make it out on the top, so coddling you helps nobody.”
“I lost my father. And—”
“Excuses.”
Anger bubbled inside me. “I keep to myself because it’s better that way, not because I don’t care or don’t try. All due respect, but you have no right to judge me as anything more than a pupil to educate.”
Clearly, it was the wrong thing to say because her lips tugged into a cocky smile. “Let me educate you then, my dear. Malik versus State. Heard of it?”
Of course, I had. George Malik was the state comptroller before my father took term as governor. They’d known each other for years, but my father insisted he didn’t know what Malik was doing with funds. I believed him. I still did. And sure, maybe that made me naive, but he was still my father no matter what happened.
“I have,” I answered carefully.
“Then I’m sure you know that Malik took more than just the funds he was responsible for. There was a very long list of those he hurt along the way. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Even the court system said his crimes were true, but where is he now, Adele?”
I wasn’t sure where he was because I hadn’t wanted to follow the story when it was all over the news. My father would sometimes mention it, but it was rare. Instead, we focused on each other. How our days were. How classes were going. If business was successful. I loved my father, but things between us, regardless of how close we were once, were restricted. Looking back now, it made me wonder if I was subconsciously preparing myself for the inevitable. He’d been too invested in the Malik case when he did bring it up, like he knew more than most people. There were answers I didn’t want, things I couldn’t allow myself to know because it changed how I’d feel about the man I looked up to my entire life.
“According to social media, he’s in Fiji with his wife celebrating their thirty-eighth wedding anniversary. Sweet, isn’t it?” The tone in her voice told me it was the opposite of that. “I find it strange that somebody who was so blatantly guilty could be out celebrating of his own free will. Don’t you?”
Trick question. “Does it matter what I think about it, Professor Ribbons? You’ve made up your mind about it already.”
“Are you telling me you don’t find that he deserved punishment?”