*Thaddeus Harding must've been cursed for eight lifetimes to end up with Maud Henson.*
*Maud Henson — desperate slut, stripping in public for attention. The whole city's had a ride.*
I scrolled through the flood of abuse and understood immediately: my personal information had been sold.
Thaddeus really would stop at nothing to back me into a corner.
I pulled the SIM card out of my phone.
He moved fast.
The very next day, a court summons and a lawyer's complaint arrived.
I tossed the complaint straight into the trash and headed for Blue Horizon Group.
I was about to walk through the front doors when a familiar mocking voice drifted up behind me.
"Maud, everyone online is calling you the town bicycle now — and you still have the nerve to show your face? Honestly, I'm impressed."
I turned and found Deborah's smug little face staring back at me.
Thaddeus stood beside her, his expression dark.
"What are you doing here? You think Blue Horizon Group is somewhere a person like you can just walk into?"
Before I could answer, Deborah cut in first.
"I bet she's here looking for a job! Finally realizing how hard life gets once you leave Thaddeus, hm?"
"Someone like you? You couldn't get hired as a receptionist at Blue Horizon — they wouldn't even take you on to mop floors. Stop embarrassing yourself."
"You'd better hurry back and apologize to Thaddeus. Go home and keep being his little housewife."
His face sank, and he turned a cold look on me.
"A housewife trying to walk into Blue Horizon Group? You have no idea how small you are."
"Apologize to me now, and I might — might — let you keep being Mrs. Harding."
I looked at him and laughed, short and cold.
"That title? Give it to your precious childhood sweetheart."
His face went rigid.
"Maud. I'll be waiting for the day you crawl to me on your knees."
He wrapped an arm around Deborah and strode inside without looking back.
I watched him go, my gaze turning cold.
The moment Thaddeus disappeared through the doors, Greg hurried out to meet me.
"CEO Henson, Thaddeus and the others have arrived. They're practically begging for a meeting with you."
I glanced at Greg, my tone clipped.
"Send them to my office. And have ten glasses of peach juice ready."
Thaddeus pushed open the office doors, all smiles, his eyes full of fawning eagerness.
"CEO Henson, regarding the cancellation of our partnership — I'd love the chance to discuss that with you."
The words were still hanging in the air when his gaze landed on me, seated behind the desk. He froze where he stood.
I smiled faintly and gestured toward the ten glasses of peach juice lined up in front of me.
"The partnership can wait. Finish all ten of these first."
Thaddeus's eyes went wide, full of undisguised panic.
"How are you — why are you in the CEO's office at Blue Horizon Group?"
