Mrs. Quinn charged toward me, only to be stopped by the police officers.
“Ma’am, you can talk, but keep your hands to yourself.”
She jabbed a finger at me.
“Fine. Then let’s settle this right here, in front of everybody!”
Jade stepped forward with reddened eyes.
“Mom, please, forget it…”
“Forget it? You’re pregnant, and she still dared to attack you!”
People around us began lifting their phones to record.
Mrs. Quinn turned to Dylan.
“Tell everyone, right now. Is my daughter your wife or isn’t she?”
He avoided my eyes.
“She is.”
Mrs. Quinn gave me a vicious smile.
“My daughter and her husband are expecting a child, and this woman is still living in their house, still chasing a married man!”
She grabbed me by the collar and dragged me toward the ring of onlookers.
“Make sure you get this on camera.”
“Let everyone see what a woman who won’t leave another woman’s husband alone looks like.”
She forced me to lift my face toward the cameras. I jerked away from her.
“If you want to know who really came between us, ask your precious son-in-law!”
Before she could reply, Mrs. Quinn’s phone rang.
She listened for a few seconds and barked, “Bring everything up.”
Soon, several cardboard boxes were brought over in front of everyone.
They were filled with things I’d left at Dylan’s house, the belongings I hadn’t had time to collect.
Mrs. Quinn ripped open a box.
My underwear and the matching pajamas Dylan and I used to wear scattered across the floor.
Then she pulled out a piece of black lace lingerie and held it up for the cameras.
“Everybody look.”
“She claims she’s not chasing him, but she’s left all these things in my son-in-law’s bedroom.”
She flung the lingerie into my face.
“Is this how you try to seduce someone else’s husband?”
My eyes burned as I lunged for the boxes, but Dylan grabbed my wrist.
“Elise. Calm down.”
Mrs. Quinn reached into the bottom of one box and drew out an old, yellowed notebook.
My breath stopped.
It was Mom’s handwritten notebook.
“Don’t touch that!”
I wrenched myself free of Dylan’s grip.
But Mrs. Quinn gave the notebook a careless toss, sending its pages scattering across the floor.
She stepped on one.
“Protecting it like that? What is it, your secret recipe for stealing men?”
Phones began chiming all around us.
Within ten minutes, secretly recorded videos had spread through the company chats.
[STERLING EXECUTIVE’S MARRIAGE SCANDAL]
[PREGNANT WIFE ATTACKED]
Someone from PR went pale.
“Mr. Sterling, our business partners are already asking questions.”
Dylan’s voice was hard when he spoke.
“Elise, make a public statement saying we broke up a long time ago and that you lost control today and came here to harass me.”
I looked at him.
“Harassing you? Dylan, I’m married.”
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
Then Jade burst out laughing.
“To Alexander?”
Her gaze traveled over me from head to toe.
“Do you have any idea who Alexander Sterling is? You think he’d marry someone like you?”
The crowd joined in her laughter.
Dylan’s face darkened.
“Enough, Elise. Do you really think anyone but me would marry you?”
Mrs. Quinn sneered and ground her shoe into the yellowed page beneath her foot.
“You say you’re married? Fine. Call your husband. Let’s see him!”
I struggled desperately to reach the handwritten pages scattered at her feet, but I couldn’t get to them.
The laughter grew louder.
Then the elevator doors flew open.
“Elise!”
An urgent voice rang out from the elevators.
Alexander Sterling strode through the crowd and stopped dead when he saw me.
My underwear lay scattered around my feet. Pages from Mom’s notebook were crumpled and dirty on the floor.
He didn’t ask me a single question.
He crouched and collected the handwritten pages one by one, smoothing their bent corners with his fingertips.
Then he removed his coat and draped it over my shoulders.
“Here. Put this on.”
Mrs. Quinn gave a scornful laugh.
“What now? Found another man to fight your battles for you?”
Alex pulled the coat more securely around my shoulders before straightening.
When he looked up, the warmth he’d shown me was gone from his eyes.
Someone recognized him.
“M-Mr. Sterling?”