Blake jumped in. Yeah, she grabbed me first. We were just defending ourselves. A ripple of disbelief went through the room. Ila stared at them, stunned.
That's not That's not what happened. Everyone saw Blake stood up, pointing at her. You're lying. You attacked me. All of us saw it.
Sit down, Naomi said. He froze mid gesture, the authority in her tone slicing straight through his theatrics. He lowered himself slowly into the chair. Fury and fear mingling on his face. Naomi picked up Seth's phone, turning the screen toward her.
She replayed the video twice. Once silently, once with audio eyes unmoving, mind slicing through details like a forensic blade. Then her thumb tapped the screen. Another tap, a swipe, a pause. Her expression changed, not visibly, but internally.
Her posture sharpened. She turned the phone toward the room. This video, she said, has been altered. A hush fell deeper than before. Blake scoffed with forced confidence.
What are you talking about? It's literally on camera. Naomi's eyes cut through him. Do not interrupt me. Blake shut his mouth.
Naomi lifted the phone slightly so everyone could see. The video metadata shows the footage was trimmed and overwritten. Look here. She zoomed in on the timestamp. Two overlapping layers showed identical time markers.
Proof the clip had been spliced. Mason leaned forward. Bro, you edited it. Seth's face drained of color. "No, I didn't.
I just saved it, " Naomi interrupted quietly. "No, you didn't just save it. You altered it. And you weren't subtle. " She swiped open a hidden details tab.
One only someone with technical expertise or investigative training would know how to access. See this? " she said, pointing to the code. Frame rate mismatch, deleted segments, overwriting errors. Someone clipped out exactly 14 seconds of footage.
The exact 14 seconds where Ila was first attacked. Students gasped. Even the manager stepped closer, shaking his head. I I didn't know kids could manipulate video like that. Naomi stepped away from the table, but her eyes were fixed on Blake now, not Seth.
You told them to do it, she said. What? Blake shot up from his chair. No, I didn't. Why would I?
Because you thought the cameras were down, Naomi replied calmly. You thought you had a clean slate to humiliate my daughter. You thought no one would ever know. Her voice was soft. Her words were not.
Seth tried again, panicking. It wasn't Blake. I swear I just cut the boring parts. Lie again, Naomi said. Stepping closer to him.