Chapter 3

The air fell silent for a moment.

Then, someone suddenly burst out laughing.

"Pfft, hahaha! I'm dying!" Jeremy pointed at me and laughed. "Didn't expect you to be such a poser. You're just some little girl fresh out of school, and you're pretending to be the boss? If you're the boss, then I'm your damn father!"

He wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and grabbed Kylie beside him. "Honey, I told you I wasn't interested in her. Now you can see for yourself. This woman is a delusional lunatic!

"Why would I ever want her? I'd be disgusted even if she got down on her knees and begged me to take her!"

Kylie raised her chin smugly. "You think you can steal my husband? Just look at yourself, you pathetic little nobody. Even if you were the Queen, no man would want you!"

The crowd grew increasingly hostile and began closing in on me.

"Exactly! Keep dreaming!"

"The boss of a company this big has to be a man!"

"I got rejected when I applied for an accounting job here, and you expect me to believe you're the boss? In your dreams!"

"Women these days have such big mouths! Someone needs to teach her a lesson!"

A few people were already cracking their knuckles, eager to throw a punch.

The tightly packed crowd made it hard for me to breathe.

Suddenly, my chest tightened. It felt as though an invisible hand had clamped around it, squeezing the air from my lungs.

I instinctively reached into my pocket.

Jeremy grabbed my hand and held it down. "What do you think you're doing?"

"L... Let... go..." I was already struggling to catch my breath.

"Honey, don't let go! I bet she's trying to call for backup!" Kylie shoved a hand into my pocket and rummaged through it.

She pulled out a custom-made phone. "Honey, look at this weird phone. Doesn't it look like one of those diamond-encrusted phones rich people have? The ones that can even summon a helicopter?"

-

Jeremy glanced at it casually, but his gaze suddenly froze.

'What… A phone like that costs 12,000 dollars!' He had heard that the boss had one. 'Could this little girl really be… No! If that's true, I'm finished!'

He shook his head, forcing the terrifying thought from his mind. "Impossible! It's just some cheap knockoff. The quality is absolute garbage."

-

Despite his words, his grip on my hand loosened.

I hurriedly reached into my pocket again.

My medication... I needed my medication...

My trembling fingertips finally found a small bottle.

"Still trying to fake an illness by taking medicine?"

Kylie snatched it away and read the label aloud. "An asthma inhaler. Oh, my God!"

She pinched her nose and took a step back, shouting, "She's got tuberculosis too! Everyone, stay away from her! You don't want to catch it!"

"Give... it... to me..."

The suffocating sensation was about to overwhelm me. My vision began to blur as I reached out desperately.

But Jeremy kicked me to the ground. "You diseased freak! Stay away from my wife!"

The force of his kick sent me tumbling three feet across the ground. My face scraped against the rough surface, leaving a bloody gash. Searing pain spread across my skin.

My vision went black, and I was about to pass out.

At that moment, Jeremy grabbed me by the hair and hauled me back up with a sneer. "Stop pretending to be helpless! I'm not interested in you! You want your medicine, don't you? Honey, give it to her!"

Kylie understood what he meant. With a grin, she tossed the bottle into the air. It traced an arc before landing beyond the crowd.

At the same time, Jeremy threw me back to the ground. "Go pick it up!"

All I could think about was staying alive. The moment I hit the ground, I began crawling toward the bottle on my hands and knees.

"My medicine... I need my medicine..."

Just as my fingers touched the bottle, a foot suddenly came down on it. "See? I told you she was faking it! She's still got enough energy to crawl around!"

I looked up to see a female employee in the company uniform. She had striking, alluring features.

"Give... it to me... I'll... promote you..."

"Yeah, right! I'm an intern, not an idiot!" Penelope raised an eyebrow. "I won't stand by and let a homewrecker like you destroy someone else's marriage!"

With that, she kicked the bottle away. It rolled into the bushes and disappeared from sight.

"That's right!"

The crowd broke into applause, praising her as a "good woman" with "the right morals."

Penelope blushed and shot Jeremy a glance.

He immediately sprang into action as though someone had injected him with adrenaline and yanked me up from the ground. "Everyone, don't worry! I won't let a woman like this seduce me. I'm taking her straight to the police station!"

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My throat felt completely blocked, and my vision turned white.

I was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Just then, a startled cry rang out from beyond the crowd. "Boss!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she forced her way through the crowd.

My secretary, Lily Lawrence, rushed forward and pulled me into her arms.

Jeremy's and Kylie's expressions changed instantly!