Chapter 4

My assistant, Samantha Finch, came rushing over.

She shoved her phone at me.

"Angela, look at this!"

It was a video.

Someone had reposted the photos Jeffrey had put up earlier.

They'd added all my personal info too.

"There are a ton of videos like this online right now."

"And people at the office are whispering about you."

I scrolled through it and realized the thing had spread far.

Everyone was sharing it.

The comments were a mob piling on me.

"Ha, this stupid woman thought she could do whatever she wanted, and she cut in line ahead of a celebrity."

"Then the celebrity exposed her. She's finished now, right? Publicly humiliated!"

"Boycott her company! Make them fire her!"

"Trash like her deserves to be dragged like this, so she never forgets the lesson!"

"She's done. This woman's whole life is over! Screenshot this so it's on the record!"

Instead of panic, I felt a flicker of excitement.

Jeffrey, since you're so determined to bury yourself, don't blame me for what comes next.

First I dropped the footage I'd copied into the company group chat.

The heavy, suffocating mood in the office lifted at once.

"Angela, let's post it online too!"

Samantha suggested in the group.

The others jumped in, one after another, all of them fired up.

But right then, the front-desk receptionist came running in, panicked.

"Angela, this is bad. There's a huge crowd outside trying to force their way in."

I took a few people and went straight out front.

A hundred-plus people had gathered, chanting slogans in perfect unison.

"Angela Salazar! Line-cutting, no shame, no class!"

They even had a banner stretched out.

It read exactly what they were shouting.

A few of them kept trying to charge forward.

The security guards barely held them back.

I was just wondering whether to call the police when my phone rang.

It was my mother.

"Angela, you're at your company, right?"

"I brought you a little something back from overseas. I'll be passing by in about a minute, so I'll drop it off."

I'd barely hung up when I saw Jeffrey strolling toward me, hands clasped behind his back.

"Angela Salazar, how's it feel now? This move of mine is more than enough to break you, isn't it?"

"If you don't want your name and reputation destroyed, you'll be a good girl and agree to what I asked!"

Tessa, trailing behind him, looked just as thrilled.

"Angela Salazar, I'm warning you, Jeff's fan club has thousands of people."

"If you still won't agree to Jeff, even more of them will show up!"

"And then we can't promise what might happen."

Jeffrey let out a few smug laughs.

"Agree to me, and I'll tell them to scatter right now."

"Otherwise…"

Just then a car sped up.

It stopped right beside me.

Then my mother stepped out.

Jeffrey froze for a second, then broke into delighted surprise.

"Ms. Pruitt, you, you're on my side too?"

Tessa jumped up and down with joy.

"Jeff, even the boss came out to support you. You really are a big deal!"

But my mother frowned and looked at me.

"What's going on, Angela?"

"Who's been bullying you?"