CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: RETRIEVING THE SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE

Timmy Monroe suddenly lifted his head from Ivana Monroe’s shoulder, looking shocked and expectant: "Mommy, how do you plan to get back the three thousand dollars?"

It’s really tough for Mommy to earn money. Timmy Monroe felt heartache as he watched Ivana Monroe take out three thousand dollars and place them on Mrs. Alden’s desk.

Ivana Monroe gave the little boy a mysterious smile: "Timmy will find out soon enough."

Ivana Monroe took Timmy to Dewey’s surveillance room and said to the staff inside: "Hello, I’m Timmy Monroe’s mommy from Class Two. I’d really like to see how my child is adapting on his first day at school. Could you please help me by showing the surveillance footage from Class Two today? Just ten minutes will do; I’ll fast forward to finish watching quickly."

Ivana Monroe was extremely polite, and she was inherently beautiful, the kind of beauty that could overthrow a nation with just a slight smile.

The staff was a young guy in his early twenties. He was called "little brother" by Ivana Monroe, which made his heart leap and shyly lowered his head.

Parents concerned about their children and wanting to check surveillance footage - Ivana Monroe was not the first.

Moreover, the critical point was there had been no major incident at the school today, and the principal hadn’t called saying parents couldn’t view the footage.

The young guy took the initiative to pull out the footage for Ivana Monroe and offered his seat: "Please sit down and watch slowly, dear parent."

Once Ivana Monroe sat down, the young guy added: "Here’s the fast-forward button, and this is normal play. If you’re not in a hurry, you can watch for a while. I don’t have anything to do right now anyway."

"Thank you, little brother," Ivana Monroe said with a smile.

Her smile was so beautiful, it stupefied the young guy until Ivana Monroe lowered her head to watch the footage, which finally brought him back to his senses, turning sharply with a face as red as fire.

"You’re welcome," the young guy replied softly: "Take your time. I’m going to the bathroom."

The young guy left the surveillance room, his heart still racing non-stop. As he touched his burning cheeks, he gave a bitter smile, wondering how he developed such a strong psychological response to a child’s mommy.

She was incredibly beautiful, like a goddess, unadorned with makeup, unlike those heavily made-up noblewomen exuding artificial perfume from the makeup they wear as masks.

She wasn’t wearing makeup, yet she was stunningly beautiful, and that smile, he swore, was the most pure and pleasant smile he had ever seen, with teeth so naturally white and dazzling.

In the bathroom, the young guy splashed his face with cold water, hoping to snap himself back to reality.

Ivana Monroe had already found evidence of Franklin Young ruining the toy, observing in the footage the sneaky chubby kid taking the toy to the corner and throwing it hard on the ground to break it, then secretly taking out double-sided tape from his pocket to piece the broken toy back together and putting it back in place to entice Timmy to play with it.

Timmy Monroe had barely started playing with the toy for a few seconds when it revealed its true broken state.

The chubby kid grinned smugly, pointing at the toy in Timmy Monroe’s hand: "You’re screwed, you broke the toy, and it’s the most expensive toy in our classroom."

Ivana Monroe held her phone and opened the video, capturing this segment.

The chubby kid snatched away the broken toy from Timmy Monroe’s hand, secretly removing the double-sided tape, and handed the broken toy to Mrs. Alden.

Mrs. Alden came over and scolded Timmy instantly, even publicly declaring to all the kids in the class that Timmy deliberately damaged the classroom toy.

Ivana Monroe was trembling with anger, watching Mrs. Alden’s ugly face on the podium, and Franklin Young’s smug, cunning smile from his seat made Ivana Monroe feel heartbroken for Timmy.

On his first day of school, he suffered such a great injustice.

Ivana Monroe recorded this segment too. When she finished watching, her fingers slipped, scrolling back to the morning footage where the chubby kid was ordering Timmy Monroe around.

Ivana Monroe pressed the record button again, watched the whole surveillance video, and finally understood the entire story.

As it turns out, the chubby Franklin Young had a falling out with Timmy Monroe in the morning, and breaking the toy in the afternoon was revenge.

Ivana Monroe didn’t want to accuse a six-year-old of being scheming and lawless.

The root of the problem was Mrs. Alden; she was Franklin Young’s aunt. That morning she stood up for Franklin Young, but due to the presence of both parents at the door, she reprimanded him. In the afternoon, without the parents around, she brazenly trusted Franklin Young, blaming Timmy, and did it in front of the whole class.

The favoritism was just too outrageous.

If any decent teacher knew there was a conflict between two kids in the morning, and then something like this happened in the afternoon, they would notice something wasn’t right and wouldn’t lightly believe Franklin Young.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Alden wasn’t fit to be a teacher at all.

Ivana Monroe finished recording the video just as the young guy returned from the bathroom to the surveillance room.

He saw Ivana Monroe standing up, ready to leave, and remarked in surprise: "You’ve finished watching so quickly?"

Ivana Monroe contained all her anger within and smiled at the young guy: "Thank you."

The young guy bashfully lowered his head: "You’re truly welcome."

Ivana Monroe left the surveillance room with Timmy, preparing to go to the office to find Robin Alden. As soon as she left the surveillance building, she ran into Robin Alden on the first floor.

Robin Alden looked at Ivana Monroe in astonishment: "You... you’re still here?"

Ivana Monroe sneered at her: "Mrs. Alden, what’s your WeChat? I want to show you something interesting."

"What do you want to show me?" Robin Alden suddenly felt uneasy.

"You’ll know once you see it," Ivana Monroe teasingly left her in suspense.

Robin Alden gave her WeChat ID to Ivana Monroe, and shortly after, received a message containing three video clips from Ivana Monroe.

Robin Alden’s eyelids suddenly jumped as she opened the videos, seeing Franklin Young secretly take the toy and smash it in the corner. Robin Alden’s expression changed drastically.

After watching all three videos, Robin Alden’s face was pale, her gaze at Ivana Monroe as if it carried barbs. She didn’t expect Ivana Monroe to be so clever as to go to the surveillance room to retrieve the footage.

Inwardly, Robin Alden blamed the surveillance room staff as fools for letting Ivana Monroe record these things.

Robin Alden took out three thousand dollars and returned it to Ivana Monroe, gritting her teeth: "I wronged Timmy Monroe. Here’s your money back. I will have Franklin Young compensate for the broken toy."

Timmy Monroe watched as Mommy’s money returned to her hand, his handsome little face breaking into a smile.

Ivana Monroe pocketed the money, and as she watched Robin Alden turn to leave, she suddenly spoke: "Wait, Mrs. Alden, it seems you still owe Timmy an apology."

Robin Alden suddenly clenched her fingers; in her lifetime, she had never apologized to a student.

With the surveillance videos in Ivana Monroe’s hands, she had no choice but to relent: "I’m sorry, Timmy."

Ivana Monroe smiled and shook her head: "I want you to apologize to Timmy in front of the whole class."

Robin Alden’s face turned deathly pale, her eyes ominously dark as she said: "Dear parent, don’t take things too far."