Chapter 2

I said, "Watch your mouth. When your husband gets here, I'd love to see how you'll let him deal with me."

Sophie's eyes went wide, her voice rising even higher. "Oh, you want me to watch my mouth? Maybe you should try acting like a real person first.

"Waiting for my husband, huh? With that trashy face, you really think you could tempt him?

"Just because you think you're some hot stuff, you drag your four little brats in here to mooch a free meal?"

Sophie circled me like a shrew, yelling at the top of her lungs. "I get it now. You only ordered one entrée because you thought the owner was a guy, and you were planning to sleep your way out of the bill, weren't you?"

"I get it now—you only ordered one entrée because you thought the owner was a guy, and you were planning to sleep your way out of the bill, weren't you?

"With that face, you probably slept with half the city. My husband is loyal. He'd never stoop to someone like you."

She yelled even louder, making sure everyone in the restaurant could hear. "Hey, everyone, check out this shameless woman. She brought four kids, ordered just one entrée, and even got two refills. Is that normal?"

Sophie got even more worked up, whipping out her phone and shoving it in my face to record me. "I'm posting you online, you bitch. Let everyone see what kind of freeloader you are, so nobody else gets scammed by trash like you."

The onlookers started pointing fingers and calling me out.

"The kids might not know any better, but you're an adult. This is a business, not a charity. You're way out of line."

"Yeah, at least order something else. Just one entrée? You're basically treating the owner like a fool."

"If everyone acted like her, the owner might as well shut the place down."

My nephews were so scared by all the accusations that they stood there, too afraid to say a word.

I pointed at the table where we'd just eaten. "We ordered dishes and spent over 200 dollars. Sure, we only got one entrée, but the menu says breadstick refills are free.

"Getting a refill is totally reasonable. Sophie, if you can't handle running a business, just zip it and wait for your husband."

Sophie ignored where I was pointing, aggressively shoved her phone right in my face and started recording. "Everyone, look at this shameless woman.

"Five people come in, order just one entrée, and she still refuses to admit she's wrong. She keeps spouting nonsense."

She wasn't just planning to post me online herself. She was rallying the customers and staff to join in and blast me all over the internet.

She said, "Come on, everyone, film her and post it online. Let more people see what kind of shameless freeloader she is, so nobody else gets tricked by people like her."

Almost everyone in the restaurant whipped out their phones and started recording.

Worried about how this would affect my nephews, I raised my voice at the crowd, "What you're doing is illegal. You're violating my right to privacy. And if you don't believe I paid 200 dollars, just check your system."

I paused, shooting Sophie a fierce warning glare. "This place is going down because of you."

Sophie suddenly swung her arm and slapped me hard, her teeth clenched as she spat, "Fuck you. You think you can threaten me? My husband's restaurant has been around for fifty years.

"Who the hell do you think you are? I've been too polite to you.:

I'd never been hit in my life. Growing up in a wealthy family, I trained in many physical skills.

Everyone who knew me knew I could throw down. Nobody ever dared to cross me like this.

Without a second thought, I slapped her twice, loud and clear, the sound echoing through the restaurant. "How dare you!

"You want to livestream? You want to cyberbully me? Go ahead, stream it. Let's see who ends up disgraced and humiliated in the end."

Sophie's cheeks were stamped with bright red handprints. She froze for a second, then snapped out of it and shrieked like a lunatic.

She turned to her relatives, the waiters, and yelled, "What are you standing there for? Get her. Are you blind? Can't you see I'm getting bullied here?"

Her words were like a signal, and the waitresses rushed at me, claws out, ready to tear me apart.

I threw punches and knocked them down.

None of them were any match for me. After I knocked them down, they all stared at me, terrified.

Sophie was fuming, gasping for air. "So that's why you dared to freeload. You actually know how to fight.

"You come into my restaurant, freeload, and then hit my staff? Today, you're not getting away with this."

Sophie barked at the staff on her left, "Call the police. Tell them someone ate here without paying and beat up our staff."

Then she turned to the staff on her right. "Get the big guys from the kitchen. Bring everyone here."

The crowd tried to talk me down. "Look, even if you don't care about your own reputation, at least think about the kids. Just pay her a bit extra and let it go."

Sophie sneered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Too late. If she'd paid up at the start, maybe I'd let it slide. But now? No way.

"What she did is no different from dining and dashing. My rule is, anyone who tries to freeload pays a hundred times the meal price.

"Based on our restaurant's price, she owes 10,000 dollars for the meal. And now she's beaten up my staff, messed up my business, and caused me a ton of losses.

"This won't be settled for less than 150,000 dollars."

As soon as Sophie finished, a bunch of burly bodyguards stormed out of the kitchen. Two of them were massive, one easily over 200 pounds, the other pushing 300.

Sophie barked at them, "Teach this bitch a lesson."