Chapter 4

Everard laughed until his eyes watered, like he'd just heard the joke of his life.

Then, mocking me, he pulled out my phone and told me to contact Percy.

"Muriel, if you're really Mr. Whitney's girlfriend, I'll drop to my knees and knock my head on the ground three times to beg your pardon!"

The phone rang once. Percy hung up.

I called again. He hung up again.

In the end, he blocked me.

Everard sneered and wouldn't stop.

"No wonder Ms. Vance has it out for you. Turns out you're trying to steal her man!"

"Someone as cheap as you doesn't even deserve a second glance from Mr. Whitney!"

But when he called Percy, the line picked up at once.

Everard started tattling.

"Mr. Whitney, Muriel says she's your girlfriend, and she won't accept me no matter what I do..."

Percy warned him through gritted teeth.

"Are all the other women in the world dead? You have to keep chasing her? Stay away from her!"

The call ended, and Everard bent down to kiss me.

"Next time, tell a lie that actually holds up. So Mr. Whitney doesn't want you, no big deal. Everard here will treat you right!"

My scream of despair finally drew the security guard on patrol in the garage.

And he called the police for me.

Everard was hauled away.

I went back to the hospital alone.

When the doctor saw me come back in this state after barely two hours gone, he couldn't help scolding me.

"I've never met anyone as much trouble as you! Who on earth has such a hold on you that you keep throwing your own life away?"

I tugged the corner of my mouth into a faint smile and said softly,

"It won't happen again."

He kept scolding, but he still dressed the burns on my back with care and set up the exams.

When the X-ray came back showing the fractured tailbone, the doctor told me sternly,

"A fracture there can't be casted. Rest is all you can do. Until the burns heal, you can only sleep on your stomach."

I nodded and headed for the ward. My phone rang, sharp and urgent.

I answered, and Percy came at me shouting.

"Muriel! You're the one who can't keep your own behavior in line, so how dare you call the police and get Everard arrested?"

"Did you already know he was Bridget's distant cousin? Is that why you've been going after him this whole time?"

I froze.

No wonder Everard had toyed with me right in front of Percy and Percy had only dared to slap me.

He'd extended his love for her to her whole family.

"Do you even know what he did to me?"

"Everard told me everything. You caused this on purpose! I've already smoothed it over, so no more scenes!"

"Get to the hospital now and apologize to Bridget and her cousin!"

His idea of smoothing it over was for me to carry the disgrace, swallow every wrong, and go apologize to the man who'd assaulted me.

How absurd.

I hung up and blocked him.

The walk back to the ward wasn't long.

But every step drove the fracture into me like a spike.

I suddenly thought of the mermaid couple's photo Percy had taken me to shoot after his family found him.

He'd said that if he were the prince, he would never mistake the wrong woman for his love.

And he would never let her suffer pain and humiliation for his sake, only to dissolve into sea foam in the end.

Back then, he really had loved me.

So I'd believed that even if our stations didn't match, the two of us would still get a perfect ending.

But reality slapped me hard across the face.

I opened my inbox and replied to the recruiters' emails one by one.

I never expected them to block me outright.

One recruiter even heaped abuse on me.

【Muriel, you'd better find some gutter and hide in it for the rest of your life, running that filthy little business of yours!】

I understood in an instant. The rumor had already spread through the whole industry.

Only Mr. Lambert and the big client I'd landed earlier believed me.

They messaged me one after another to comfort me.

【Muriel, I know you're not that kind of person!】

Mr. Lambert even came to the hospital in person and handed me what he'd dug up.

"It was your Mr. Whitney who put out the word. He told the L.A. companies not to hire you."

So Percy had made that termination notice and its stated reasons public.

Only then did I notice he'd texted me.

【Muriel, you think blocking me means you don't have to come to the hospital and apologize to Bridget and her cousin?】

I'd been busy answering emails and hadn't seen it.

So he sent another, his final ultimatum.

【Muriel, if you're not here to apologize within half an hour, I'll just have to find a way to earn Bridget and her cousin's forgiveness for you!】

But five minutes later, Everard used his main account to release my termination notice and the rumor photos.

Percy didn't stop him.

He couldn't wait to grind me into the mud, just to make the woman he cared for happy.

And he texted me.

【Bridget twisted her ankle because you shoved her, and you won't admit it or answer my messages. So don't blame me for breaking up with you!】

He'd done every last thing, then dumped all the blame on me.

I smiled and typed one word.

【Fine.】

The moment I sent it, Mr. Lambert held out an olive branch.

"Muriel, would you be interested in coming to my New York branch as Sales Director?"

New York, more than a thousand miles from L.A.

I said yes to his offer almost without hesitation.

"Muriel, take your time and get well before you come to New York to start!"

Three days later, I was discharged and packed my things.

Everything in my rented place that had anything to do with Percy, I boxed up and shipped to Zenith Group.

By the time I left for New York, Percy discovered that Mr. Lambert still hadn't signed the contract.

And Bridget, so hungry for quick wins, had already had the company make molds worth ten million dollars.

The materials had been ordered from the supplier too.

All they were waiting for was Mr. Lambert's first payment.

When finance told Percy the deposit still hadn't come in, that was when he realized Mr. Lambert had never signed the contract.

He rushed to reach out to him.

"Mr. Lambert, the molds are done and the materials are mostly ready. When do you think you could arrange the first payment?"

Mr. Lambert, riding along with me to New York, said with a smile,

"Mr. Whitney, I never signed a contract with your company. What payment would I possibly be making?"