Chapter 2

The mouse Violet tossed aside flew straight toward my abdomen.

Thankfully, my hand instinctively moved to protect my belly while the other swatted the mouse aside.

Anger blazed in me. I knew that Violet had done that on purpose to provoke me.

Clenching my hands into fists, I roared, "What the hell is wrong with you, Violet Lintell? According to our pay structure, this is exactly the commission I'm entitled to! If you have any problems with that, bring it to President Kinsley!"

The mention of President Kinsley instantly had Violet's hackles rising.

"How dare you bring up President Kinsley? You're nothing but a shameless mistress, yet you seem to think you're his wife just because you're carrying his baby! If I were to tell his real wife about you seducing him, even President Kinsley won't be able to save you! You and that bastard of yours are doomed!"

I was shaking with rage, but just as I was about to retort, my abdomen began cramping badly. My stress had to be affecting the baby.

Cold sweat broke out on my back, and I didn't have the energy to continue this argument with Violet. Cradling my bump carefully, I turned to leave.

However, I had barely taken two steps when Violet seized my wrist and yanked me back.

"You're leaving even though you haven't been permitted to take leave yet? Where do you think this is, your house?"

I struggled to wrest my hand out of her grip.

"Let me go! Since HR won't approve my leave, I'll just go to President Kinsley for approval!"

Violet's grip was growing tighter and tighter, causing my skin to turn red and throb with pain.

When the others saw how heavy-handed Violet was being, they were a little worried and softly urged her to release me. They didn't want her to take things too far.

Yet, when Violet realized that I couldn't escape her, her lips curled into a smug smile. Raising her voice, she deliberately fanned the flames. "Hear that, everyone? This bitch sure is arrogant! She doesn't even care for the company rules! Are we really going to let her step all over us and steal our bonus?"

Her eyes locked onto mine as she went on forcefully, "Cough up that two million dollars for us to split between us, and I'll let you apply for your maternity leave!"

The instant everyone heard that Violet wanted me to cough up that money, all concerns about things escalating too far flew out the window. They surged forward and swiftly had me surrounded.

"Violet's right! That was a one-hundred-million-dollar order. Why do you get one million dollars while we only get about 20 to 30 thousand?"

"She called it! You're just using the pregnancy as an excuse to bully us and strip us of our commission!"

"Hand over that money, or you can forget about leaving!"

When I didn't budge, several of the more muscular male colleagues began to shove and pull at me.

Biting my lower lip tightly, I elbowed them away. "If anything happens to my baby, all of you will be held accountable!"

It hadn't been easy for me to close that deal, yet they wanted to snatch that money from me? No way in hell!

My actions shocked the male colleagues. Worried that they would accidentally harm my baby, they hastily backed away and left me a path to walk through.

"Do none of you have any balls?" Frowning deeply in displeasure, Violet squeezed her way through the crowd angrily. "The more you're like this, the more she'll just step all over you. Then you can forget about ever getting her to cough up that money."

Following that, she stepped into my path and slowly approached me, expression twisted into a dark scowl.

My heart started drumming rapidly as an uneasy feeling rose in me.

One of the male colleagues complained helplessly, "She's determined not to give us the money. What can we do?"

Violet laughed coldly. "When faced with someone as shameless as she is, she won't know to fear us unless we teach her a little lesson."

Before anyone else could react to that, a sharp, stinging pain exploded on my cheek.

Violet had raised her hand and slapped me.