Chapter 4

The cloudy liquid dripped from the ends of my hair onto the tiles.

I raised my hand and expressionlessly wiped away the ruined makeup from the corner of my eye.

Harsh laughter echoed in the restroom.

Jessica held her phone up at me, the camera pointed right in my face.

"Come on, Celine, smile for the camera. Aren't you the CEO's wife? Call your husband to come save you."

I looked at the camera and suddenly smiled too.

Jessica froze for a second.

I reached out, snatched her phone, and threw it straight into the toilet next to us.

She screamed, "Celine, you crazy bitch!"

I ignored her screaming, reached back, and took out my own phone.

I quickly sent three high-definition pictures directly to the company Slack channel.

The marriage certificate.

The valid marriage record lookup from the county clerk.

And the first page of the prenuptial equity agreement that Conrad had personally signed back then.

The group chat exploded instantly.

"This state seal and serial number. It's definitely real!"

"My god, the CEO has actually been married for three years?"

"Then what was Ivy doing rubbing herself all over the CEO in public just now?"

Jessica looked at the screenshots of the documents in the chat, her face turning deadly pale.

She rushed over to grab my phone.

"You unsend that right now! Who told you to post that in the company chat?!"

I stepped aside to dodge her and said coldly.

"You were filming me just now. Weren't you going to post it too?"

She wanted to keep making a scene, but she was forcibly held back by several colleagues who had rushed over after hearing the commotion.

Right at that moment, Ivy arrived as well.

"Celine, why do you have to take things so far? Even if you and Conrad have personal issues, can't you handle this privately?"

With my hair half wet, I glared at her mockingly.

"Handle it privately?"

"When you were letting people call you the future CEO's wife in the department chat, why didn't you mention handling things privately?"

"When you were showing off the jewelry on Instagram that Conrad bought for you using my joint credit card, why didn't you mention handling things privately?"

"When you knew he was married and kept asking him when he would get a divorce, why didn't you mention handling things privately then?"

All the color instantly drained from Ivy's delicate face.

"That's slander!"

I opened the last screenshot and shoved the screen right in front of her face.

It was a private chat between her and Conrad.

She had texted to ask.

"Does your reluctance to make your wife public mean that there are no feelings left between you two?"

Conrad replied, "She's understanding. For my sake, she won't make a fuss."

Ivy kept pressing.

"Then what exactly am I?"

Conrad said quietly in the texts.

"Wait for the right time."

The crowd suddenly fell silent.

Ivy shook her head crazily, her tears pouring down like a broken dam.

"It's not like that! This is a photoshopped picture. She deliberately forged it to frame me!"

She suddenly acted like a cornered animal. She charged at me aggressively, grabbed my purse, and tried to snatch the marriage certificate inside.

I didn't expect her to be so desperate.

Her fingernails scratched the back of my hand, and her other hand shoved my shoulder hard.

My foot stepped in a puddle of water, and I slipped backward. A dangerous, dull ache spread through my lower abdomen.

The pain wasn't severe, but it was enough to make me break out in a cold sweat.

This was bad.

I instinctively protected my stomach with both hands and barely steadied my balance using the edge of the sink.

The very next second I found my footing, I swung my arm and slapped her hard.

Slap!

A sharp sound echoed in the restroom.

Ivy's head was knocked to the side from the hit. Half of her face instantly swelled up, and she was completely dazed.

I stared at her. "Grabbing my purse in public and trying to shove me to the floor. Who are you putting on this innocent act for?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Did Ivy just attack her?!"

"She's completely out of control!"

"Look at Celine's hand, it's bleeding!"

Ivy covered her red, swollen cheek. True panic and chaos finally surfaced in her eyes.

Right at this moment, Conrad finally pushed through the crowd and arrived at the scene.

He clearly saw my face ruined by makeup remover, saw the bleeding scratch marks on the back of my hand, and more importantly, saw my pale, trembling figure leaning weakly against the sink.

Yet, the very first thing he did was to tightly shield the tottering Ivy behind him.

"Celine, are you done with your crazy antics for tonight?"

I froze for a long time. After seeing all this clearly, I didn't have a single shred of hope left in my heart.

"She pushed me first."

"But what I saw with my own eyes was you hitting someone."

"She tried to grab my marriage certificate."

Conrad kept a cold face. "All those documents of yours are forged."

The restroom was terrifyingly quiet.

I even heard someone gasp.

Conrad turned around to face all the employees, his tone as steady as if he were handling a normal public relations crisis.

"Everyone, I'm very sorry for the embarrassment. Celine has been under tremendous mental stress recently and has suffered a severe mental breakdown."

He turned to Sarah and issued an order.

"Call security immediately and have her removed from the premises. I'll personally arrange a psych hold for her later."

Sarah immediately nodded in understanding.

"No problem, Mr. Conrad."

Two tall, burly security guards immediately stepped forward, trying to grab me from both sides.

I stood my ground and didn't move.

That despairing scene from my previous life perfectly overlapped with the picture in front of me.

He publicly announced I was mentally unstable.

He flatly denied our legal marriage.

He tacitly allowed others to spread rumors that I slept my way up.

Back then, I cried myself hoarse explaining, only to be met with contempt.

Hah. This was my husband. This was the husband who protected another woman first when he saw me in danger.

This was the husband who condemned me as the villain without asking me a single question.

But this time, I didn't want to waste another breath.

I took out my phone and dialed 911.

The moment it connected, I turned on the speakerphone.

"Hello, there is an emergency here."

Conrad's expression changed drastically, and he reached out to snatch my phone.

I took a step back, my voice completely clear.

"The CEO of my company, Conrad, raped me, and now I'm pregnant. I need the police immediately."