He pulled his foot away like he stepped on shit. The back of my hand was already swollen, bruised purple. I pushed myself up, shaking with fury.
But then, a wave of nausea hit me. I doubled over, dry-heaving.
I grabbed a napkin and wiped my face again and again, but it didn’t help. The fire inside me only burned hotter.
“You’re gonna pay for this!” I growled through clenched teeth.
I looked him in the eye and enunciated, “I’m Irenee’s husband! I’m the real owner of the McCulloch Corporation!”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I thought maybe the little secretary would finally back off. But instead, he looked at me with a mocking smirk, full of contempt.
“You’re lying without even bothering to make it convincing. You came in here to fool us without even doing your homework? Our CEO has never been married—how the hell could she have a husband?”
Just then, a couple of employees in line for coffee chimed in.
“Right? I’ve never heard of her being married either. This guy’s got guts, coming in here spouting nonsense like that.”
“We were just talking about how Secretary Oliver is the CEO’s favorite person in the company, and now this guy’s claiming to be her husband? Secretary Oliver, he’s basically calling you the third party!”
That last comment made Oliver’s expression darken. He snapped. “How dare you slander our CEO like this?” he barked. “Someone get in here and beat the hell out of him!”
Back when Irenee and I got married, she was just an average woman.
She didn’t want people saying she married into money, so we just had a private wedding ceremony. For years, we hid our marriage from the world.
I supported her while she built McCulloch from the ground up. I wanted her to feel confident—never like she owed her success to me or it was beneath mine.
When she finally made it, I told her we should go public.
But she said it still wasn’t time, and that even then, she wasn’t on my level. She asked me to wait a little longer—she wanted to prove herself first, to match me in status before we made anything public.
I agreed. I gave her my full support. I helped her grow the company even more.
I thought she was working to stand tall on her own.
Now I see—it just made hiding her affair that much easier.
I opened my mouth to speak again, but I didn’t get the chance. A group of security guards came rushing in, surrounding me in seconds.
Their posture told me everything: they weren’t here to talk.
I knew if I didn’t make things clear, I’d really get beaten up.
In a cold, steady voice, I said, “I am Wesley Broderick. I’m the richest man in Washington! And I am Irenee’s husband! If you don’t believe me, go get her right now. Let’s settle this right now, right here!”
Something about the way I said it made them pause. The guards looked at each other, hesitant.
But the arrogant secretary lost it. He turned and kicked one of the guards hard. “You actually believe this crap? I’ve never once heard the CEO mention a husband!”
Then, he threatened them. “If you don’t beat the crap out of him now, I’ll make sure you’re all fired!”
The guards’ expressions changed immediately. They looked at me like I was already dead meat.
“You picked the wrong guy to mess with,” one of them muttered as they moved in. “That’s on you.”
“Hey—” I tried to speak, but a fist slammed into my jaw before the words were out.
Then another. And another.
I tried to fight back with everything I had, but two hands couldn’t beat eight.
Soon, I was on the floor, getting stomped and punched from every direction.
All I could do was curl up and shield my head as best I could.
A strong hand grabbed my chin, forcing my face up. “Let this be a lesson,” said the guy they called the secretary. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice before running your mouth.”
I didn’t know how long the beating lasted.
All I knew was that my body felt broken—like every bone inside me had been shattered.
Eventually, they stopped.
I glared at him, my eyes filled with loathe. “You’ll regret this,” I said, voice hoarse. “You’ll regret what you did today.”
He let out a cruel, dismissive snort. “Regret? For laying a hand on trash like you?” He sneered. “Let me tell you something—there’s nobody in Washington who could make me regret anything.”
He turned away and snapped at the guards. “Get him out of the building. And don’t ever let him set foot in here again.”
No matter how I struggled, they dragged me out like dead weight.
They threw my battered body onto the ground like trash.
And all around me, strangers stared at me with their eyes full of judgement.
I lay there, fractured and fucking humiliated!
