Chapter 2

The next day, Andrew totally chickened out and skipped work, hiding out at his mistress's place to let his face recover.

But Andrew's illegitimate daughter, Chloe Shaw, stormed into the office with the cops, loudly announcing her arrival for everyone to hear.

"Your boss is a domestic abuser! She beat my dad up. Does that crazy woman really think my dad's got nobody to back him up?"

I heard the uproar and stepped out of my office. Chloe was nearly spitting with rage as she pointed at me.

She yelled, "Bitch, how dare you hit my dad?

"I'll avenge him today!"

She turned to the cops and said furiously, "That shrew right there. She beat the hell out of my dad. There's security footage. Don't let her get away with it, you have to arrest her!"

Just then, Andrew swaggered in with Emily Scott, his mistress.

With their fingers tightly intertwined, they looked for all the world like some lovey-dovey couple.

Emily stood quietly by his side, dressed plain as ever with only the faintest touch of makeup. She seemed awkward about her identity, instinctively trying to pull her hand away.

But Andrew just tightened his grip, puffing out his chest like he owned the place and trying to give her some confidence.

"Emily, look at our daughter being so gutsy. We're her parents, so no way we can just roll over. Relax, I'm right here. She wouldn't dare touch you as long as I'm around," Andrew said.

He was pumping himself up like he was getting ready to go toe-to-toe with some evil overlord, full of that wannabe hero energy.

With Andrew backing her up, Emily managed to muster a little courage. She took a deep breath and tried her best to look me in the eye.

Olivia rushed over, throwing herself in front of me and glaring at her dad to face him head-on.

Olivia snapped, "Don't you dare lay a finger on my mom! She only hit you because you drove her over the edge.

"After all the years my mom suffered beside you to make Shaw Group what it is today, why can't you just treat her right for once?"

Chloe fired back with venom, "Shaw Group's my dad's achievement. Your mom's got nothing to do with it.

"Your mom's a total shrew, a crazy woman. She's not even worth a single strand of my mom's hair. No wonder my dad ditched her.

"My dad said your mom's even more disgusting than the maggots crawling in a sewer!"

Burning with rage, I marched right up and slapped Chloe, that illegitimate brat, hard across the face. "You piece of shit! You don't get a say here."

Chloe's eyes went wide. She was ready to strike back, but Emily hurried over and stopped her, putting on her sweetest fragile act.

She said, "How could you hit a child? Kids are innocent. All these years, I've kept my head down, never dared cause trouble, just wishing you'd treat Andrew a little better.

"Look what you've done. You didn't just hurt him physically, you wrecked his dignity, too. As a woman, how could you be so heartless?"

Even when she was accusing me, she sounded all gentle and delicate, like she couldn't bear to actually be mean.

No wonder she was Andrew's longest-standing mistress.

My eyes narrowed into icy daggers, jaw tight with fury as I raised my hand and slapped Emily across the face, hard.

"You're really flipping the script here, huh? You knowingly became the other woman—absolutely no decency, just shameless. What makes you think you get to stand there and lecture me?" I shot back at her.

Andrew was all heartbroken, rushing to shield Emily behind him while shooting me a death glare.

"You're insane! There's just no getting through to someone like you," he snapped.

He turned to the cops, yelling, "Did you see that? She's a shrew—always ready to fly off the handle and start hitting people.

"I already showed you the security footage of her beating me up yesterday. I demand you detain her right now. I absolutely won't settle, not a chance. This isn't just domestic abuse. It's a violent assault!"

The cops looked at me and said, "Mrs. Shaw, we've watched the security footage. What you did wasn't okay. We've got to do things by the book. Sorry, but you'll have to come with us."

Olivia's eyes widened in panic. She begged her dad, voice trembling, "Dad, please, don't let them take Mom. She's been through hell with you all these years. You know her health, her joints can't take a night in a cell."

Andrew couldn't care less about Olivia's begging. Instead, he looked straight at the cops and said, "I'm not backing down. I want an injury assessment, and I'm pressing criminal charges against this psycho for what she's done to me."

I let out a cold, mocking laugh, not the least bit rattled.

Since I was bold enough to hit him at work, taking the consequences was no big deal to me.

He was the one who wouldn't be able to handle what would happen once I was actually behind bars.

Olivia started sobbing and quickly dialed the lawyer's number. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, trying my best to calm her down.

"Don't be scared, Olivia. Trust me, I've got this. He's way out of his league if he thinks he can take me on," I told her, confident and unfazed.

Andrew smirked, looking all proud of himself, like he'd already won and had me completely under his control.

The cops hauled me off to lock me up.

The next day, the lawyer hit me with the news—Andrew just handed the general manager seat to Chloe, that illegitimate brat.

Meanwhile, Olivia, our real daughter, had been grinding away for two whole years in the company, and she still hadn't climbed higher than deputy manager.

What Andrew didn't know was that I'd already set Olivia up to stand on her own. She had gotten overseas accounts loaded with more money than she could ever burn through, even in a hundred lifetimes.

I didn't hesitate and got my lawyer to take action right away. The shareholders and investors? They were already in my pocket, bought and paid for long ago.

If I wanted Andrew powerless, all it would take was a single word from me.