Chapter 3

A wave of bitter sorrow washed over me.

These were my classmates. Even after witnessing the truth with their own eyes, they still chose to spread rumors, frame me, and drag my name through the mud—all just to brown-nose a guy with money and power.

And they were doing it for free, without Brandon even promising them a thing in return.

"They say the majority is always right. Christine, what do you have to say now?" Brandon sneered. "I'll give you two choices: become my side chick, or get down on your knees and lick Jessica's shoes squeaky clean.

"To tell you the truth, this hotel is going to be mine very soon. If you play your cards right, I might look out for you once I take over. Look at you. You must be desperate for cash. How about this? I'll bump your pay up by 20 dollars a day once I take charge."

Everyone in the room erupted into boisterous laughter, praising him for his generosity while pressuring me to bow my head and apologize.

I stood my ground, unable to comprehend what I had done wrong.

"Actually, this hotel..."

Hurt and furious, I was just about to blurt out that the hotel belonged to my family when the door swung open with a squeak.

"Excuse me, I noticed our waitress hadn't come out in a while, so I came in to check if everything was all right," Javier purred, his face dripping with sycophancy.

His tone was sickeningly humble as he shot a glare at me.

"I accidentally made a mess on the floor. I was just about to clean it up," I said, seizing the interruption.

I had zero desire to keep arguing with these irrelevant people. All I wanted was to get as far away from them as possible.

"Hold on a second," Javier barked, stopping me in my tracks.

He turned to Brandon with a benevolent smile. It was a warm, gentle expression I had never seen on his face the entire time I'd worked here.

"This waitress is new and clumsy. If she's given you poor service in any way, Mr. Miller, please find it in your heart to forgive her. Christine, what are you standing there for? Apologize to Mr. Miller right now!"

I swallowed hard, weighing my options.

As sickening as these people were, I had indeed made a mess on the floor. Besides, now that the manager had stepped in, I figured they wouldn't keep pushing it. The sooner I apologized, the sooner I could escape this nightmare.

I took a breath, bowed slightly, and said, "I'm sorry."

"Who taught you to give a dry, half-assed apology like that? Is that how I trained you during onboarding?" Javier leaned right into my face, looking as if he wanted to swallow me whole.

"I heard everything that happened while I was standing outside. Get down on your knees and apologize to Ms. Dixon."

I stared at him in disbelief. Was this something a hotel executive would say?

"Do it!" he yelled.

In the next instant, a sharp, stinging slap echoed through the room, landing hard across my cheek.

Turning back to Brandon, he instantly swapped back to his groveling smile. "Don't be upset, Mr. Miller. This waitress is inexperienced. I've taught her some manners."

The sheer speed of his transformation almost made me forget the burning pain throbbing on my face.

"On what ground did you hit me?" I yelled with rage.

From passing out flyers on the street corner to delivering dishes to this room, every person had blamed me, pushed me down, and humiliated me.

They felt entitled to crush my dignity simply because they believed they had more wealth and power, showing contempt for anyone they considered beneath them.

"On what ground? Don't you know the customer is king?" Javier snapped. "If hitting you makes Mr. Miller happy, you should take it as a privilege."

Before the words fully registered, he kicked hard at the back of my knees. "What are you waiting for? Get down! Crawl over there on your knees and lick Ms. Dixon's shoes clean."

The force was brutal. Before I could even react, my knees slammed hard onto the floor, sending a piercing pain through my joints.

"Move it!" he barked.

Before I could gain my balance, he shoved me from behind, sending me crashing face-first into the mess on the floor.

An explosion of harsh laughter erupted the second I went down, with Jessica's screeching giggle piercing right above my head.

"You little whore. Let's see if you ever dare to flirt with Brandon again," she jeered. "If you had just apologized to me earlier, you wouldn't have been suffering like this. Now hurry up and get to work on my shoes."

She thrust her shoe right in front of my face. When I wasn't moving, her tone grew even more venomous.

"Listen! People are lining up down the block for a chance to lick my designer heels. I'm giving you fast-track access, so don't you dare be ungrateful," she hissed. "Once you finish licking them, bow down, give me a proper thank-you, and then you can get out of my sight."

She pulled out her phone, aiming the camera right at me to record. When I still didn't budge, she smirked. "Take your time and think it over. A golden opportunity like this won't come around twice."

Turning to Javier with a bright smile, she added, "You did a fantastic job, Mr. Davis. Once we take over, I'm making you the general manager of this entire establishment."

She cast a sultry glance back at Brandon. "Right, babe?"

Brandon shot me a contemptuous glance before looking at her with gooey affection. "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you say goes."

Turning to Javier, he added, "Nice job, Davis! You've got a bright future ahead of you."

Even from my angle on the floor, I could see Javier grinning so wide his mouth almost touched his ears. He showered them with endless thanks, and the whole room vibrated with festive cheer.

"Ms. Dixon is giving you a golden opportunity here. Hurry up and do what she says, then give her proper thank-you."

"These are designer shoes. Remember how they feel, so when you buy knockoffs in the future, you can get the good ones."

...

Laughter exploded once again, ringing painfully in my ears. Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself up from the floor and shoved away Jessica's foot.

Ever since I started working this summer job, I'd been doing heavy labor every day, building up biceps that were noticeably stronger than before.

My sudden shove sent Jessica stumbling backward. She lost her balance and let out a high-pitched shriek.

"How dare you put your hands on me? Who do you think you are to touch me?" She lunged at me, swinging her arm wildly.

"Scream all you want, Jessica. Even a gopher doesn't squeal as loudly as you." I ducked deftly and gave her a firm push, sending her sprawling onto the floor.

Javier rushed over to stop me, pinning my arms behind my back. "I've got this bitch, Mr. Miller. Don't hold back. Beat the hell out of her."

With my arms locked tightly behind me, I couldn't move an inch.

Brandon ambled toward me with a sinister leer. "I gave you an easy way out, Christine, but you chose the hard way. Now that you're in my hands, you're going to pay."

He turned to the crowd with a vile grin. "Don't just stand there, guys. Get your phones out and record this. Let me put on a nice little strip show featuring our genius."

He reached his hands toward me with a sickening expression. Surrounding us, our classmates eagerly whipped out their phones, pointing their cameras straight at me.

Right then, a voice called out, "Stop!"