Chapter 2

I cut him off flat.

"You make Serena sound so good, so noble, so pure-hearted—wants nothing but the person themselves."

"So how come you don't have one on your arm?"

"Serena only wants the person, right? Unless…"

I paused on purpose and looked him up and down.

"…you're not a person? You're an animal?"

Laughter broke out all around us.

And it wasn't only the female coworkers beside me, the ones who'd been frowning at Adam's twisted logic.

Even the male coworkers were laughing.

I turned to the three men who'd jumped in earlier to back Adam up—and they were laughing too.

"Hm? What about you three?"

The three of them caught my meaning at once.

The grins froze on their faces. Their mouths opened, but nothing came out.

All they could do was shuffle back a couple of awkward steps, putting more distance between themselves and Adam.

Adam's face went dark. He glanced at the empty space around him and shot me a vicious glare.

"Who the hell are you calling not a person, calling an animal!"

"Gold-digging bitch, I called out that you married for money, and now you're humiliated and going after me personally!"

Me, going after him personally?

What a joke.

Memory of a goldfish—seven seconds and it's gone?

Already forgot what he said a minute ago?

And I hadn't attacked him one bit.

I'd only followed his own logic, gone right along with him, and turned his words back on him with a question.

"You said the child a woman like Serena bears is more likely to be the man's biological child than the wife's…"

"So what about you? Are you your father's biological son?"

I stepped forward, each word landing hard.

"If not, then whose seed are you?"

"And if you are, then what does that make your mother…"

I didn't even finish. Louder laughter erupted.

"Hahaha, he picked up a rock and dropped it on his own foot!"

"If he's not his dad's, then he's a bastard!"

"If he is his dad's, then his mom's a woman like Serena!"

"Either way he's screwed!"

"Hahaha, he set out to disgust and corner Layla, couldn't manage it, and made a fool of himself instead!"

"Serves him right. Spewing garbage right after Layla got engaged, when she's this happy—serves him right!"

…

The coworkers who'd been annoyed earlier didn't bother to hide what they said.

Adam's face went darker still, his eyes brimming with venom.

He whipped his hand up and swung a slap straight at me, hard.

"Screw you, filthy bitch!"

"You're the goddamn bastard, your mother's the one like Serena!"

Chewed out by the boss, sitting on a bellyful of resentment, picking the soft persimmon to squeeze, spewing filth at me right out in the open.

A working professional.

At this point it was already way over the line. This was open war.

What I never expected was that Adam, this freak, would actually dare to lay hands on me.

Caught off guard, I flinched back on instinct and barely dodged in time.

Adam's slap hit nothing, and he still wasn't done.

He actually came after me, another slap!

"Filthy mouth on you!"

"I'll beat your mouth to a pulp, teach you to keep it filthy!"

My eyes went cold.

None of the shock from the first slap this time—I threw my arm up at once.

My forearm slammed hard into Adam's wrist as the slap came down.

A dull "crack."

My forearm went numb instantly, and Adam's slap stopped dead.

He looked at his own halted hand and still wasn't finished.

He shot his hand out, going for my hair.

If he didn't get to "teach me a lesson," he wouldn't rest.

But it was too late.

Given a chance and he didn't take it—I wasn't about to go easy on him.

I drove my knee up hard, straight into Adam's groin.