Chapter 6

After Yale left, Yvonne leaned against the doorframe, looking down at Lauren with undisguised contempt.

"So this is what you meant when you said he loved you? God, Lauren, you're pathetic. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, and look where you ended up. Right under my feet!"

Lauren said nothing. She'd been wrong, and she knew it.

Everything had changed. She was no longer the Lauren Scott she'd once been, and Yale was no longer the proud, stubborn young man she remembered.

He'd torn her love apart with his own hands and trampled her dignity on that filthy bed.

Bankrupt or not, she was still Lauren Scott. She had too much pride to keep clinging to illusions about a man who had treated her this way.

But Yvonne mistook her silence for defiance.

That was what she'd always hated most about Lauren. Even now, Lauren had that infuriating air of superiority, as though Yvonne were nothing more than a ridiculous little clown, too insignificant to deserve her attention.

"Get off that bed, Lauren! Get your ass back to your maid's room!"

She lunged forward and grabbed Lauren by the hair, but Lauren reacted immediately, catching her wrist and squeezing hard enough to make Yvonne's face contort in pain.

"You dare fight back?" Yvonne snarled through gritted teeth. "Have you got a death wish? You're nothing but a maid in my house now! I can make your life a living hell!"

Lauren shoved her away, sending her sprawling across the floor.

"I'm leaving soon. I have no intention of fighting you for Yale, so leave me alone."

The hatred in Yvonne's eyes was unmistakable. But a moment later, she raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face, leaving a bright red handprint on her fair cheek.

Then she gave Lauren a provocative look.

It was an old trick, one she'd used countless times to turn Yale against Lauren. After all, everyone saw Lauren as the spoiled heiress who used her family's power to bully others, while Yvonne was the sweet, helpless victim.

Back when Lauren and Yale were dating, Yvonne would wait until his attitude toward Lauren began to soften, then find some excuse to get Lauren alone. She'd pull the same underhanded stunt, accuse Lauren of hurting her, and make Yale despise her all over again.

And every time, Lauren had gotten so caught up in wondering why Yale refused to believe her that she'd end up fighting with him out of sheer frustration.

Not anymore.

She no longer cared whether Yale trusted her.

Lauren rolled up her sleeves, seized Yvonne by the collar, and straddled her.

Years of weight training had left Lauren with firm, well-developed muscles. She might not have been strong enough to overpower a man, but she could certainly handle another woman.

Before Yvonne could react, slaps began raining down on her face and head.

Stars burst across her vision, and before long, the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.

"Lauren! How dare you hit me!"

Her screams were muffled and barely intelligible.

Lauren kept going until her palms tingled from the blows. For years, she'd been falsely accused of hitting Yvonne. Today, she was finally going to give those accusations some truth. At least this way, Yvonne wouldn't have to keep slapping herself.

Once she'd had enough, Lauren tossed her aside like a discarded rag doll, ignoring her sobs, screams, and curses.

She looked down at Yvonne's bruised, swollen face with utter indifference.

"You had that coming."

Then she turned to leave.

Suddenly, her phone rang with a shrill urgency.

One glance at the screen made her blood run cold.

That number only ever called when something had happened to her father.

Her hands trembling, Lauren reached to answer, but before she could, someone shoved her violently to the floor.

"Lauren! How dare you beat Vonnie like this! Have you learned nothing?"

Yale's furious voice rang out as her phone flew from her hand and skidded across the floor.

Ignoring the pain from her fall, Lauren scrambled after it. A terrible sense of dread had seized her, and she needed desperately to know what was happening at the hospital.

Her fingertips had just touched the phone when an expensive, polished leather shoe came down on her slender arm.

Pain shot through her as the pressure increased. No matter how desperately she stretched, the phone remained just beyond her reach.

Then the ringing stopped.

A deathly silence settled over the room, broken only by Yvonne's sobs and Yale's uneven breathing.

"Yale, get off me! That was the hospital! Something must have happened to my dad!"

Lauren's eyes reddened as she struggled frantically beneath his foot.

But Yvonne spoke up, her voice full of malice.

"I saw who was calling. It was Henry."

Yale's face darkened instantly. When he spoke, his voice was icy with barely contained fury, though there was a faint tremor beneath it.

"Are you really that desperate to get to Henry?"