Chapter 3

"Security! Where's security?" Dean shouted, twice.

Four men in black uniforms came running and stood at attention in front of him.

Dean pointed at me and spoke down to them. "Drag this lunatic out of here. He's making a scene."

"Break one of his legs and throw him on the trash heap out back. I don't want to look at him."

The guards moved to grab me.

"I'd like to see you try," I said, my voice cutting.

"Christine destroyed my company. She put my mother in the hospital with a brain hemorrhage. You twist everything around, and you're not afraid of what's coming to you?"

Dean gave a cold laugh. "What's coming to me?"

"Drew, take a good look at whose turf you're standing on."

"At the Imperial Grand, what I say is the rule."

"Whether your mother lives or dies is no business of ours. Your company went under because you people don't have what it takes."

Then he leaned in close to my ear, his voice pitched so only the two of us could hear. "I'll tell you the truth. I'm the one who had Christine delete that data."

"That old wretch, your mother. She deserved to drop dead."

"Fighting me over a project? She thought she rated?"

The fury burned through what was left of my reason, and I swung my fist at his face.

But the guards beside me were faster. They rushed in, pinned my arms, and held me locked in place so I couldn't move.

Dean narrowed his eyes at me, his voice vicious. "You'd actually raise a hand to me?"

"Give this piece of trash a shred of respect and he pisses on it."

He turned and glanced at the three-tiered engagement cake beside him, a nasty smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You wanted an engagement, didn't you?"

"Fine. Let me give you one."

At Dean's signal, two guards hauled me by the arms and dragged me over to the cake table.

Across the huge three-tiered cake, written in cream, were the words "Happily Ever After."

"Dean, what do you think you're doing?" I struggled, a bad feeling rising in my gut.

He laughed coldly and clamped a hand on the back of my head, his voice low and cruel. "Let you get a real taste of an engagement cake."

"After all, this is probably the closest you'll ever get to high society in your life."

The words were barely out when he threw his weight down, forcing my head under.

My face slammed straight into the cream.

Cold, cloying frosting smeared across my face in an instant, dripping off my chin, leaving me a wreck.

The whole room burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, this is too funny!"

"That broke loser's probably never eaten a cake this expensive in his life."

"Dean really knows how to put someone in their place. Let's see if this loser dares make trouble again."

Their laughter tore me apart.