Chapter 4
“How’s my little princess’s birthday going? Mommy’s present just arrived.”
Priya’s mom Carmen Ashford appeared in an emerald green dress, holding an elegant gift box, dripping in jewelry.
When she saw what was happening in the room, she let out a blood curdling scream.
“What on earth are you doing?!”
The short-haired girl immediately ran over to tattle: “Mrs. Ashford, you were only gone for like twenty minutes, and this crazy woman barged in and started hitting Priya!”
When Carmen followed her pointing finger and saw my face, all the color drained from hers.
Her lips started trembling, and her eyes darted around nervously, like she couldn’t bear to look at me.
Priya quickly put on this sweet, forgiving act.
“Mom, I’m sure Maya didn’t mean it. She just got upset seeing Leo and me together, and my friends wanted to teach her a lesson for me.”
“Please forgive her this once-don’t fire her, okay?”
Carmen caught on immediately, though she still seemed tongue-tied.
“Well… you all carry on then. I’ll just head upstairs.”
Rage boiled up inside me, and my voice came out hoarse and ice-cold.
“Carmen, you’re not going to stop your daughter from being an idiot? You think these people can protect you forever?”
While I was talking, I’d quietly managed to grab my phone.
Carmen puffed out her chest and shot me a dirty look, though there was still panic in her voice.
“You little bitch, watch your mouth! You think I’m scared of you?”
“Everyone knows my daughter is Mr. Walsh’s precious darling now. Only someone like my daughter deserves to stand beside a man like him.”
“Women like you need to be taught a lesson-don’t hold back, everyone. If anything goes wrong, I’ll handle it.”
I forced down my rage and tried to buy as much time as possible.
“What exactly are you gonna handle? You’re just a housekeeper who thinks she’s some socialite now!”
I locked eyes with Leonard.
“Leonard Walsh, everyone who hurt me today is going down. Every single one of them-and that includes you.”
Priya rushed at me, trying to attack again, but I used every ounce of strength I had left to get up and body-slam her.
She hit the ground hard, and Leonard’s face twisted with fury.
“Don’t go easy on her anymore! Whatever happens, I’ll take responsibility!”
Someone yanked my hair viciously and slammed me back down to the floor.
“If Mr. Walsh says it’s cool, then we’ve got nothing to worry about! Let’s do whatever the hell we want!”
“Ugh, this pathetic homewrecker actually thought she could steal Priya’s man. If I don’t teach her a lesson today, I don’t deserve to call myself Priya’s
bestie!”
“Rip all her clothes off!”
She jumped on top of me, straddling my stomach and pinning me down so I couldn’t move, clawing at my clothes like a wild animal.
Just when I felt more and more skin getting exposed and knew I couldn’t protect myself much longer, the front door exploded open with a loud crash.
A dozen police officers swarmed in.
Priya gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
The people holding me down froze in terror, immediately throwing their hands up in surrender.
One of the officers shouted, “Who called this in?”
From behind them, I slowly raised my hand: “I did!”
Leonard reacted fast, quickly pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around me.
He yanked me into his arms.
“Maya, what the hell are you trying to pull here? I already told you we’d deal with whatever this is later, but you had to push it this far and call the damn cops!”
“Besides, police don’t get involved in domestic stuff anyway. My company’s about to go public-do you have any idea what kind of damage this could do if the media gets wind of it?”
Then he turned to the police with this fake smile.
“Officers, there’s been a misunderstanding. We were just having a birthday party and someone must have accidentally dialed 911. Sorry you had to come all the way out here for nothing-you can head back now!”
I slapped him hard across the face.
“Officers, he’s lying.”
I told them everything that had happened, step by step.
The evidence was right there-handprints on my face, torn clothes, the works.
Leonard started to say something else, but one look from the cops shut him up real quick.
Priya’s college friends immediately threw the short-haired girl under the bus.
Said she was the one who instigated everything.
Of course they didn’t dare drag Priya into it-she had Leonard backing her up, and they weren’t stupid enough to cross him.
The short-haired girl still didn’t think she’d done anything wrong and kept shouting at the police.
“Officers, this woman is a homewrecking slut who destroys families! I was just sticking up for my friend.”
“Taking down mistresses is everyone’s civic duty-why are you arresting me?!”
The officer glanced at me.
I told them I needed to go upstairs for a second.
When I came back down, I slammed our wedding photo down on the floor so hard the frame shattered.
“Take a good look and tell me who the real mistress is!”
Priya’s face went pale as she shrank back into Leonard’s arms.
“You’re actually the wife?”
The short-haired girl stared at me in disbelief.
The realization hit her like a freight train, and she whipped around to glare at Priya.
“You lying bitch! I thought you were my friend, but you were just using me!”
The officer waved his hand, and as they dragged all those people out, every single one of them was cursing Priya’s name.
Did she think this was over? My revenge was just getting started.
I pointed at Carmen and told the officers: “That dress she’s wearing and the box in her hands-both stolen from me.”
Carmen completely lost it. “How can you say that’s yours?! Can’t I buy my own clothes? There are tons of identical outfits in the world-you’re just trying to frame me!”
I let out this cold laugh.
“You’ve obviously bought too much cheap knockoff crap to know the real deal. This is a custom silk dress designed by a master French embroiderer. The designer’s initials are stitched inside the collar-it’s worth over a million dollars.”
“And that box you’re holding? It contains jewelry I bought at an international auction for seven figures. You really think a live-in housekeeper could afford something like that?”
The next second, Leonard’s hand cracked across my face.
The police immediately restrained him.
