Chapter 4

The air was thick with curses directed at me.

Brenda Peterson started hitting me even harder, making her husband hold me down tightly.

The strength difference was too great; as I lay helpless, she brutally slapped my cheeks.

Until my mouth tasted of blood, the woman leaned close to my ear, a vicious smile on her face.

“I’ve seen plenty of your type! You just wanted to flirt with men, using the delivery service as an excuse, didn’t you?!”

“I’m telling you, that package of yours isn’t going anywhere. I intercepted it!”

My heart jolted.

That package contained a photo of my deceased father.

Dad had passed away just last week, a hero, leaving my mom and me forever.

Mom had been always talking about my dad’s photo, so I was sending it to her.

I never imagined that this woman would intercept it!

“Give it back! Don’t touch it!”

I watched, horrified, as Brenda Peterson roughly tore open the package.

She held up the photo for everyone to see.

“Ugh! What a cursed piece of junk!”

“So her husband really is dead, huh? No wonder she’s always after other people’s husbands!”

With that, she violently threw the photo to the ground and mercilessly stomped on it.

The crowd cheered.

Tears streamed down my face, splashing onto the ground.

Mark, however, kept kicking my feet, pinning me down.

The crowd erupted in gossip again.

“That’s so disgusting! Everyone, don’t go near this woman, who knows what kind of nasty disease or STD she might have!”

“You’re right, maybe her husband died because she gave him some disease!”

“Ugh! So gross! Let’s report this woman to the building management right away!”

Their words grew increasingly vile, but I couldn’t refute them.

Brenda Peterson even stomped on my fingers, cursing all the while.

“Didn’t you want to flirt with men? Today, I’m stripping your clothes off!”

My eyes were bloodshot from the pain as I glared at the shrew before me.

“I’ve already called the police! You’re slandering me and physically assaulting me! A civilized society won’t let you get away with this!”

But Brenda Peterson burst into maniacal laughter.

“Even if the police come, they’ll just stand by and watch me beat a whore!”

With that, she stepped closer, reaching out to violently tear at my clothes.

The next second, police sirens blared.

Police officers and paramedics rushed over.

“Stay where you are! Nobody move!”

The lead officer saw my bruised and swollen face, and his eyes immediately reddened.

“Chloe, kiddo, Officer Thompson, I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”