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She blinked, looking down as well. “Oh. Yes, actually. New quarter.”
“Very good.” He tucked his arms behind his back. “Be sure to get those surveys in by the end of the week. I need to send them off to the superintendent.”
She nodded. “Sure thing.”
Without another word, her principal spun around on his heel and departed out her door. She turned back to the package in her hand and held it up. It was light, almost as if there was nothing in it. She shook it, hearing something rattling around inside.
Flipping it over, there was only a shipping label and no return address.
Odd …
Shrugged, she peeled it open and dumped the contents of it out onto her desk. Dozens of small pages scattered everywhere, confusing her. She tilted the box back, seeing that it was indeed empty, before tossing it into the trash bin next to her desk.
Grabbing one of the papers, she felt it between her fingers, vaguely noticing that it was a photo before flipping it over.
Her blood ran cold.
It was a photo of her, clear as day, with her mouth pressed up to a microphone. In the background, stage lights shone down on her.
No …
Grabbing another one off of the desk, she held it up with shaky hands. A small gasp left her lips as she saw that it was another photo of her on stage ... different than the one from before.
No … no, no, no.
She flipped them all over, her heart racing as each one of them revealed a different photo of her on stage, all of which she was dressed as Tish Black.
Quickly bending over, she snatched the box out of her trash and held it up to look at the front of it. Who the hell would send her something like this? What kind of sick twisted game was this anyway?
Tossing the empty box back into the trash again, Rose leafed through all of the photos, noticing a small business card stuck to the back of one. She peeled it off, seeing a familiar name etched onto the front.
Slick Recordswas all it said.
“Shit,” she mumbled and grabbed her bag, wrestling to get her phone out of it.
With shaky hands, she dialed the number on the card, putting her phone up to her ear and praying that someone answered.
“This is Slick ...”
“I got your message, you sick fuck,” she bit out. “What is this, some kind of shakedown?”
He laughed. “Glad you got my gift, Tish.”
“Cut the shit, Slick. What do you want?”
“You know exactly what I want. And you know exactly what I’ll do to get it.”
She felt her stomach drop and glanced down at the photos spread out on her desk.
“Sign a contract with me, and that all goes away.”
Feeling petulant, she spat out, “What does?”
“Your secret. Since I have the address of your school, I can just as easily send the same package I sent you right to that principal of yours. Now, what do you think he’d say if he saw one of his innocent teachers up on stage in those raunchy outfits singing about taking down the establishment?”
She swallowed thickly, not knowing what to say.
If Slick actually went through with that threat, she’d be done for. Fired immediately and kicked out with a black tarnish on her name. She’d never get another job teaching again. Not if Slick was behind burning her bridge for her.
