Chapter 6
“Why doesn’t a woman like you just drop dead?”
The voices condemning me grew louder, the crowd pressing in tighter until I was surrounded. A few people even shoved me, and their agitation quickly escalated. I didn’t know who threw the first blow, but once it started, others joined in.
Hands yanked at my hair, my ears rang, and I was tossed around like prey in a pack of wolves. All I had done was come to the office to start my job-I never imagined I’d face something like this.
I hadn’t even had the chance to call security before I was completely overwhelmed. From outside the circle, Chloe Miller’s voice rang out, pitched to sound panicked: “Don’t hit my sister-in-law! This is all my fault. I never should’ve kept talking to my brother after his marriage. If I hadn’t, she wouldn’t have grown jealous and misunderstood everything.”
Her words weren’t pleading-they were shifting the blame onto me, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Finally, some of the company’s security guards, who could no longer stand by, rushed in and forced the crowd to disperse.
By then, my face was swollen, streaked with blood, and my body was covered in scratches. Wrongfully beaten, my fury burned hot, but I said nothing. Instead, I pulled out my phone and dialed.
“Hello, I’d like to report an assault. I’ve been attacked.”
The people who had laid hands on me suddenly looked uneasy.
“She’s the one who’s shameless, and she dares call the cops?”
“She smeared her own sister-in-law, and on top of that, she’s sneaking around with some older man. We were only standing up for what’s right.”
“But now she’s actually called the police. What if they really take us in?”
I raised my phone and began recording every single one of them.
Chloe’s face tightened; she lunged forward to snatch my phone, but I anticipated it and dodged.
When she failed, she instantly switched her tone, furrowing her brows like a martyr.
“Sister-in-law, this is all my fault. It’s just a small matter-don’t call the police! They were just upset because you went too far, that’s why they lashed out. If you’re still angry, then hit me instead. Don’t punish innocent people because of me.”
Smack!
Before her words had even faded, my palm cracked across her cheek. The sound was sharp and clean, leaving the whole room in stunned silence.
“Since you insist, then I’ll spare the others and just hit you.”
I lifted my hand again and landed blow after blow on her face.
Finally, the fire in my chest had an outlet. All the years of swallowing her petty torments, her fake concern, her endless little cruelties-they sickened me.
Now I could breathe again, if only for a moment.
“Chloe, you asked for this-don’t you dare blame anyone else.”
“You keep insisting you and Daniel are just brother and sister. But you’re not even related by blood.”
“What kind of ‘innocent siblings’ in their twenties still sleep in the same bed whenever there’s a storm? Who texts their brother at night, saying they’re scared of thunder and need him to hold them until they fall asleep?”
“Everything I have, everything Daniel gives me-you snatch it away. No wonder no woman wanted to marry him. Your father saw I liked him and rushed to seal our marriage, just to force you to let go.”
