This is absurd. Harrington cut him off. You're talking about a commitment that would consume your entire life. What about school?
What about your mother? She needs you to help support the family. Don't you dare use my son as an excuse, Janet said, her voice sharp as a whip. You don't get to pretend you're concerned about his well-being when what you really mean is that he's not worth the trouble.
Marcus is a straight A student. He helps me with everything he can. But if he has a chance, a real chance to pursue his dream, I'll move heaven and earth to make it happen. We've survived worse than inconvenience.
This isn't about inconvenience, Harrington said. And for the first time, he sounded tired rather than angry. This is about reality. Teaching isn't just about time and technique.
It's about compatibility, about shared understanding. Marcus and I come from completely different worlds. How am I supposed to teach someone when I don't understand where they're coming from? Maybe that's exactly why you should.
Richard Peyton said he'd been quiet for a while, but now he stood and approached the stage. Vincent, I'm going to be frank with you. As a major donor to the Harrington Foundation, I have significant influence over its direction. And I'm telling you right now, if you don't take Marcus as a student, I'm withdrawing my funding.
All of it. $15 million over the next five years. Gone. The hall gasped. That was more than a threat.
It was potentially crippling for the foundation. Harrington turned on Peyton, his face red with fury. You can't blackmail me into this. It's not blackmail, Peyton said calmly. It's accountability.
You've built an institution on the premise of supporting musical excellence. Well, here's excellence standing right in front of you, and you're trying to find every excuse to turn it away. That tells me the foundation isn't actually about excellence at all. It's about exclusivity.
And I'm not interested in funding exclusivity dressed up as merit. I agree. Catherine Worthington stood as well. Vincent, I've pledged $20 million to the foundation over ten years.
Consider that pledge conditional on your acceptance of Marcus as a student. Not as charity, not as some PR stunt, but as a genuine commitment to developing his talent, the same way you'd commit to any student you deemed worthy. Other voices began chiming in from around the hall. Major donors, board members, influential patrons, all of them suddenly finding their spines, perhaps emboldened by the social media attention, perhaps genuinely moved by what they'd witnessed.
The foundation's reputation is at stake here, Vincent. One board member called out. How we handle this will define us for years to come. Harrington looked around the room, and Marcus could see the moment when he realized he was truly trapped.