Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, Miss Hayes, I shouldn't have thrown your dress on the ground."

But Scarlett wasn't about to let me off the hook. "An apology needs to look like an apology, otherwise I'll think you're insincere."

"Then how should I show my sincerity?"

"Say, in front of everyone, that you want to be Liam Vance's mistress, that you're as brazen as your mother… Oh, no, that you're even more brazen than your mother."

"I don't want to be a mistress. I've already broken up with Liam."

I even took off the ring, the one meant for our wedding, right in front of her.

"Here, take it back. We're completely done."

Liam froze, not reaching for it, and the ring fell to the floor.

"I said you want to, so you want to!"

Scarlett grabbed my hair and dragged me into the hotel.

"Everyone, come look! Here's a woman practically begging to be someone's mistress!"

Someone asked, "Isn't that Mr. Vance's girlfriend?"

"Not anymore," Liam said. "My girlfriend now is Scarlett Hayes, the new secretary at the company."

"I see." Everyone exchanged knowing smiles.

A woman stepped forward and said, "I told you a mistress's daughter would inherit the same tendency. And here I thought Mr. Vance used to defend her."

Scarlett chimed in, "Exactly! She even slapped herself twice to gain sympathy."

"But our Liam is an upright gentleman; he's not fooled by her seductive tricks."

As Scarlett said this, she leaned closer into Liam's arms.

I saw Liam's expression falter, but he still echoed Scarlett, "Baby's right."

I felt another pang. Just as I was about to explain, someone splashed a drink on me. "You're an embarrassment to women. Are there no other men left, that you have to chase after someone else's?"

The drink was aimed almost directly at my open mouth. I choked, unable to utter a single word, and started coughing violently.

Then others followed suit, splashing another drink directly on my face.

"Die, mistress!"

Then countless more drinks came, some hitting my chest, some my head.

Someone even grabbed my jaw, forcing my mouth open, and continuously poured alcohol down my throat.

I was being openly tormented as a 'mistress,' while Scarlett Hayes, the real mistress, laughed gleefully in Liam's arms.

I couldn't even cry out that it was a setup before I was pushed to the ground. After the drinks, they started kicking and punching me.

It was happening. The thing I feared most was happening.

My mom went through something similar before she died. In the end, unable to bear the humiliation, she climbed to the hotel rooftop and jumped.

The reason I broke up with Liam so decisively was because I was afraid of this day.

But it still came, framed as my fault.

The shadows that Liam had once dispelled gathered again, engulfing me in darkness. My world had no more sunlight.

The light that once shone on me was now shining on someone else.

I saw Liam smiling at Scarlett, tears in his eyes.

How happy must he be?

Liam, why were you the one who saved me from the depths, and also the one who threw me back into them?

Suddenly, like a madwoman, I broke free from the crowd, got into the elevator, just like my mom, and went straight to the hotel rooftop.

Perhaps also reminded of my mom, Liam, who had followed me, suddenly looked panicked and shouted, "Rose, no…"

But I didn't imitate my mom and jump.

Instead, I went up, climbing step by step onto the rope ladder lowered by a helicopter.