Chapter 3

Laura continued, "If Mom saw you hurting an innocent young man over a piece of fabric, she wouldn't take your side either!"

Feeling a tightness in my chest, I clutched the fabric over my heart. "Get out! I want every one of them gone!"

My bodyguards immediately moved in.

Laura shot the bodyguards a vicious glare. "I'd like to see you try! You'd better figure out who's really going to call the shots at Erickson Group in the future."

The bodyguards stopped in their tracks. I stared at her, stunned.

Dan's fans were already cackling.

"How hilarious! Turns out the delusional guy is a member of the Erickson family!"

"Apparently, the Ericksons really did adopt a kid. Looks like this obsessed dude is pretty lucky to have been adopted by the richest family in the city."

"Who doesn't know about our gorgeous Ms. Erickson? She's obviously the Erickson family's biological child, so what's this delusional guy barking about?

"He brings a few bodyguards and thinks he can order the actual head of the family around? This is killing me!"

Maybe Laura still cared about me, at least a little, because she had her people remove the crowd.

I ground my teeth. "Laura, you're nothing but the Ericksons' adopted daughter, my adoptive sister!"

Laura's expression darkened. The bodyguards were suddenly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Maybe you should all ask yourselves why Mrs. Erickson adopted me. Could it be for any reason other than needing me to inherit the family business? Erickson Group has always been headed by women!"

The moment those words left her mouth, the bodyguards fell deep into thought.

"I'd hate for you all to find yourselves blacklisted in this industry down the road. Release Mr. Greene. Now."

The bodyguards holding Daniel thought it over for a moment before letting him go. And a dozen or so of them filed over to stand behind Laura instead.

I grabbed a vase and smashed it on the floor, making Daniel shake with fear.

"Laura, I was wrong about you. This broken vase represents our relationship now, broken beyond repair!"

As Laura froze, I fixed her with a hard stare. "But Mom left this mansion to me. You have no right to come in here and do whatever you want.

"Either leave right now, or I'm calling the police and reporting you for trespassing. But before you go, Daniel, leave the shirt behind!"

As soon as I finished speaking, I grabbed Daniel by the shoulder and ripped the shirt right off him.

He let out a startled cry, but no one was paying attention to the shirt anymore—even I was stunned when I saw his lower back.

At the small of his back, just above the crease of his buttocks, was a clearly visible tattoo of the words "boy toy".

Grace and Laura both stared wide-eyed.

Never in a million years did they expect someone who looked so respectable and serious to have such a hard-to-explain tattoo.

Daniel quickly grabbed a jacket and wrapped it around himself.

The rims of his eyes had gone red. "I-I don't even know why Nicholas would have someone put this tattoo on me…"

"What?"

Grace grabbed him by both shoulders. "You're saying Nicholas had this done to you?"

Daniel just bit his lower lip, his eyes red, refusing to say a word.

Another slap landed across my face without warning. Laura was so furious her hand trembled. "I remember now. You and Dan went to the same university. He was your underclassman!"

I roared, "I don't even know him!"

But something had clearly clicked for Grace, and her expression turned grim. "Dan, you said you were bullied back in university. Was the bully Nicholas?"

Daniel said nothing as he began to shed tears.

"You scumbag!"

Laura grabbed me by the collar and slapped me across the face again. When my forehead hit the wall, a bloody mark was left behind.