Chapter 2

The two guards grabbed me by my arms, one on each side, and dragged me out.

I had no strength left. I was completely curled into a ball.

"Let go of me... I have a stomach condition..."

I squeezed the words out through my teeth.

One of the guards heard me. He looked at me, then turned to Chelsea.

"She really doesn't look well, Ms. Davis. Should we call an ambulance?"

Chelsea crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with a cold smirk.

"An ambulance? So the company has to pay for it?"

"She’s just faking it! She was perfectly fine a minute ago. As soon as she got caught, she started acting."

"I've seen this kind of sob story a thousand times. She just wants to sue us."

"Throw her out! Once she's past the lobby gates, I don't care if she drops dead!"

The guards stopped hesitating. They dragged me toward the elevator.

Along the hallway, heads popped out from every cubicle.

Several employees pulled out their phones, recording me like crazy.

"Who is this girl? She's got guts."

"I heard she came to scam maternity leave, but Ms. Davis saw right through her."

"How shameless. She looks kind of trashy anyway."

"Her stomach doesn't even look big. Just got pregnant and already trying to slack off?"

The mocking comments kept coming. I tried to lift my head, desperately wanting to show my Adam's apple.

But another wave of sharp pain hit my stomach, draining every ounce of my energy.

My vision went black, and only weak gasps came from my throat.

Chelsea followed us, shouting all the way.

"Take videos! Everyone, record this!"

"Post it on TikTok and Instagram! Let other companies know to blacklist this scammer!"

"A professional parasite like her shouldn't be allowed to work in this industry!"

The elevator doors opened. The guards tossed me inside like a bag of garbage.

I hit the floor hard, my knees banging painfully against the metal.

Chelsea stood at the entrance, blocking the doors with her hand.

"Remember this," she told the guards. "In the future, don't even let these sketchy people past the front desk."

The guards nodded quickly.

"Of course, Ms. Davis. Don't worry."

The elevator doors slowly slid shut.

Right before the last gap closed, Chelsea mouthed two words to me with a vicious smirk: "Trashy whore."

If I were actually a woman, being humiliated and dragged like this would have broken me mentally.

As the elevator went down, my stomach felt worse.

The other people in the elevator quickly shrank to the corners, looking at me with disgust.

"What kind of company does this? That's so brutal."

"Well, the girl is at fault too. If you're pregnant, just stay home."

"She looks pretty pitiful though. Should we call the cops?"

"Don't get involved. What if she's a scammer looking for a payout?"

The doors opened on the ground floor.

The guards grabbed me again and dragged me out toward the exit without a word.

I stumbled, and one of my sneakers slipped off.

As I reached to grab it, a guard pulled me hard.

"Keep moving! Don't waste time!"

Just like that, with one bare foot, I was dragged out of the corporate building and thrown onto the concrete plaza outside.

The skin on my palms scraped open, oozing tiny drops of blood.

I lay on the ground, gasping for air.

As the stomach pain subsided slightly, my sanity began to return.

I couldn't just walk away like this.

I reached into my pocket to grab my phone to call the police. Suddenly, a high heel slammed down onto my wrist.

Chelsea had followed me down.

She stood over me, grinding her heel into my hand with all her weight.

"Still trying to call backup?"

"Want to call your deadbeat boyfriend to start a fight here?"

"Let me tell you, not going to happen!"

She bent down and snatched my phone from my hand.

"Trying to call the cops on me?"

"Go ahead! Let's see if they arrest you for fraud, or me!"

With a cruel laugh, she threw my phone. It sailed through the air, the screen shattering against the concrete, before it bounced a few times and fell straight into a storm drain.