Chapter 3

Chelsea scoffed and slammed her high heel down on my hand.

The sound of bones breaking echoed in the air.

While I howled in agony, she just said contemptuously, "You honestly think you've got what it takes to be the wife of the richest man in the world? A pathetic pauper like you only deserves to be trampled under my feet."

The pain of my finger bones breaking made my whole body tremble. I glared at her with nothing but hatred.

"I have Jeremiah's number in my phone. Call him, and you'll know if it's true!"

Chelsea was about to retort, but Colin sent someone to search my bag for the phone.

Chelsea stormed over angrily. "Honey, Tammy is obviously lying to you. How can you believe her?"

"I have Jeremiah's number. It was given to me by a joint venture partner. We'll know once we compare the numbers."

Colin took out his phone and scrolled to Jeremiah's number. After comparing the two different sets of numbers, Chelsea gave a cold laugh.

"I knew it. How could that little brat possibly be Jeremiah's daughter? You hussy! How dare you lie to me?"

Chelsea strode over and kicked me hard in the gut. She put all her strength into that kick, and it hurt so badly that I coughed up blood.

"This is what you get for lying to me!"

I swallowed the blood in my mouth and looked at Colin. "Jeremiah has two numbers—one for public use, one private. Call the other one, and you'll know."

Someone in the crowd egged him on. "Mr. Blanchard, what are you afraid of? Just call and shut this liar up for good!"

Amid the crowd's goading, Colin reluctantly dialed the number.

Chelsea whispered in his ear," Honey, you've never met Jeremiah, right? How will you even tell if it's really him?"

Colin snorted disdainfully. "A broke loser like Tammy could never catch Jeremiah's eye. I'm just going through the motions so people don't think we're bullying the weak."

Just as he finished speaking, the call connected.

Jeremiah's voice came through. "Tammy, there's traffic. I'll be there soon."

Colin recognized immediately that it was the jock. Enraged, he smashed the phone.

"Tammy, how dare you play me? How could he be Jeremiah when he's clearly the gigolo we hired to test you!"

Before I could even speak, I watched my phone shatter into pieces.

My only hope was gone. Only then did fear begin to set in.

Violet was going to die from her asthma attack if things continued like this.

"He really is Jeremiah. Colin, use your phone to call him back. He really is!"

Chelsea grabbed me and slapped me twice more. My face instantly swelled up.

"You lying snake! You're just trying to make Jeremiah hate Colin so that our deal with the Atkinson family falls through tomorrow."

Colin kicked me in the chest, and I nearly blacked out from the pain.

Just then, Violet weakly opened her eyes and saw me being attacked. She reached out her hand toward me.

"Don't bully my mommy," she choked out.

My heart twisted into a knot. I hadn't cried through all the abuse, but now the tears wouldn't stop falling.

"Monsters! You're all monsters!"

Colin strode over to me triumphantly and lifted my chin.

"You got any more tricks left?"

I stared coldly at him, wishing I could tear him apart.

"Colin, you will regret everything you've done. Jeremiah posted a photo of Violet on Instagram the day before yesterday. Compare it, and you'll know the truth."

Colin sneered contemptuously and grabbed my hair hard. "I'll give you one last chance just to shut you up for good."

With that, he opened Jeremiah's Instagram on his phone.

A frown appeared on his forehead.

Just as I'd said, Jeremiah had indeed posted a photo of Violet. But her face was blurred out in the picture.

"You must be joking! How dare you screw with me!"

Colin slammed his phone into my forehead, and blood immediately gushed out.

This was the only photo that Jeremiah, the whipped excuse for a father, reluctantly posted, and only because Violet asked him to. It might have saved Violet from this ordeal, but instead, it led to another dead end.

Desperate and powerless, I gave up all resistance.

Just then, Chelsea found Violet's inhaler in my bag and waved it smugly.

"You want me to save your daughter? Fine. Take off your clothes. One piece of clothing for one puff of the inhaler."