Confrontation

Gemma

BANG!

BANG!!

BANG!!!

The violent pounding on my front door startled me so badly that I nearly dropped my laptop.

“What the hell—”

I frowned and reached for my phone on the bed.

7:03 AM.

Who in their right mind would be banging on someone’s door this early?

The pounding continued impatiently, sounding aggressive enough to nearly break the damn door off its hinges.

“For God’s sake!”

I climbed out of bed, shoving my feet into my slippers before heading to the door with my phone.

The banging grew even louder.

“I’m coming!”

I finally reached the door and peeped through the security hole.

Fucktard Richard.

Of course. Who else would come into my peace like a plague this early in the morning?

I unlocked the door and yanked it open.

“What the hell are you doing banging on my door like a madman?”

Richard didn’t answer. Instead, he shoved past me and stormed straight into the penthouse like he owned the place.

“How could you do this to me?!” he yelled furiously. “How cruel and heartless can you possibly be, Gemma?! Why is your heart so dark that you actually went as far as getting me fired?!”

I paused.

Hold on.

Fired?

Whoa.

Julian Ferguson was even more ruthless than I thought.

And honestly? I loved it.

It had only taken him two days not only to strip Richard of his precious promotion but also to throw him out of the company entirely.

Damn… that man worked fast.

A delighted laugh escaped me before I could stop it. Richard stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“So that’s why you came here? To scream at me like a giant toddler?”

“I didn’t believe it at first when I got the intel that you were behind this. I thought it was impossible. But seeing you stand there laughing instead of denying it means it’s true.”

“And?”

Richard looked genuinely stunned by my reaction.

“How could you be this heartless? Do you even know how hard I worked for that promotion? Do you know how many projects I handled? How many sleepless nights I spent building my career? Where is the calm, loving, understanding Gemma I used to know?! When did you turn into someone this evil?!”

“Calm, loving, understanding Gemma?” I repeated mockingly. “Oh please, Richard. You could at least try not to sound like a hypocrite.”

The audacity of this man truly deserved scientific study. He really had the nerve to storm into my house acting like the victim after everything he had done?

“I gave you fourteen years of my life, Richard. I supported your dreams, and what did I get in return? A cheating husband sleeping with my best friend behind my back! And somehow that still wasn’t enough for you. You even dragged Sam into your disgusting affair and turned my own son against me! Who’s the evil one here? Me? Or you?”

“Oh please, Gemma. Stop acting like you were some perfect wife. You barely even had time for me. You were always busy doing something—cleaning, organizing, fixing problems, always trying to make everything perfect all the damn time. It was suffocating!”

I stared at him in disbelief.

Suffocating?

Taking care of our home was suffocating?

Sacrificing myself for our family was suffocating?

For a second, I just stood there silently because despite everything, despite all my anger, hearing him say those words still hurt.

I had promised myself I would never let Richard hurt me again, but talking about it was slowly reopening wounds I thought had finally healed.

“So what exactly did you do to get me fired, hmm? Did you sleep with one of the senior associates?” he spat viciously. “Which one was it? Or was it all of them? This was the opportunity you were looking for, right? To spread your legs like a whore and—”

SLAP!

The sound echoed sharply through the penthouse.

Richard staggered sideways in complete shock.

But I wasn’t done.

SLAP!

SLAP!

SLAP!

My palm collided against his face repeatedly before he could even react properly. The force of the blows snapped his head sideways violently each time.

“How dare you?!”

Richard stumbled backward, looking utterly stunned by the attack. Honestly, if my palm hadn’t started stinging painfully, I would’ve continued slapping him until some sense entered his useless skull.

“Get out.”

“Gemma—”

“I said get out of my house right now!”

The fury in my voice must have finally registered because Richard’s face darkened with humiliation and rage. The left side of his face was swollen bright red from the slaps.

Good.

Served him right.

He glared at me viciously.

“You’re going to regret this. You will.”

Then he stormed toward the door and slammed it shut behind him.

“That fucking asshole!”

The absolute audacity.

He was lucky I hadn’t fought for every single penny he owned during the divorce.

I pressed my fingers against my forehead and exhaled sharply, trying to calm myself down when my vision blurred slightly and a strange wave of dizziness hit me unexpectedly.

I shook my head lightly, trying to clear it as I walked toward the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, but another dizzy spell struck harder this time.

The room tilted unpleasantly for a second.

Before I could think further, my phone suddenly rang. I grabbed it from the counter, still slightly disoriented.

“Hello?”

“Did you like the extra gift I added?”

That deep, smooth voice drifted through the phone like silk.

Julian.

A small smile unknowingly tugged at my lips.

“I love it. I didn’t expect you to go as far as getting him fi—”

Suddenly, my vision blurred again, but this time, it was far worse.The dizziness slammed into me so violently that I grabbed the counter for support.

“Gemma?”

Julian’s voice sharpened slightly through the phone.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, trying to steady myself.

Bad idea.

A loud, piercing ringing erupted inside my ears instantly.

Everything around me started spinning.

The kitchen. The lights. The walls.

“Gemma?” Julian’s voice sounded farther away now. “What’s wrong?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out properly.

The room tilted violently sideways.

Then suddenly, everything went dark.