It was Thanksgiving. I made the mistake of opening a luxury gift box Tyler had left on the table.
The moment she saw what I had done, she went full on rage. She slapped me several times.
"That was for Oscar! How rude could you be? You didn't even ask me before opening that? Do you think you even deserve to eat something this premium?”
I tried to duck and shield myself, but my face was already burning with red marks.
After her outburst, she dragged me to her family's estate in the countryside. She called over a few of her burly male relatives—and they shoved my head straight into a pig trough.
“You like eating so much, right? Go on, eat your fill!”
Her relatives kept forcing my head down the pigs' feeder. The stench alone made me gag.
Tyler stood nearby, gleefully snapping photos of my humiliation and sending them to Oscar—her new financial advisor at work, someone she’d only just met but was already smitten with.
In that moment, all dignity I had was crushed.
“Tasty, isn't it?”
——
She sneered, lifting my face with visible disgust.
My face was covered in filth, my mouth stuffed with sour, putrid pig feed. I finally managed to spit it out—but not before she zoomed in to capture every degrading detail.
“That was a specialty gift I brought back from overseas for Ozy. One of those festival rice dumplings costs 800 bucks a piece,” she said coldly. “Consider this a lesson.”
I gasped for air. My stomach churned. But worse than the nausea was the ache in my chest.
I had thought the gift box on the table was something she wanted me to prep for her. Turns out, this time was different.
Oscar Green, the charming new guy at her office, had taken only weeks to wrap her around his finger.
I pushed myself off the rough concrete floor, knees scraped raw by loose gravel.
Tyler approached, her ten-centimeters stilettos clicking against the ground. Just then, Oscar called. Tyler instantly switched personas.
“Ozy, did you get the photos I sent? Aren’t they hilarious?” she smiled sweetly.
Oscar’s mocking laugh crackled through the speaker.
“I saw everything, Tyler,” he sneered. “Hard to believe that polished, well-dressed Teddy could ever end up like that. I might just have to share these with the rest of the office—let everyone get a good look.”
His voice added pain to my shame. If those photos really made it out, I couldn’t imagine how I’d ever face anyone again.
I turned to Tyler, begging her, “Tyler, we’re partners—in marriage and in business. If I lose face, it reflects on you too. Please… don’t let those photos spread.”
Tyler looked at me like I was dirt under her shoe. Worse, she seemed to raise her voice on purpose, like she wanted Oscar to hear every word.
“Lose face?” she scoffed. “I couldn’t care less about yours. As long as Ozy’s happy, that’s all that matters. And besides,” she added, “you brought this on yourself. A little punishment is more than fair.”
Oscar jumped back in, his voice dripping with schadenfreude.
“Mr. Campbell, never thought I’d see you like this. Aren’t you usually the big shot around the office?”
The company was built by Tyler and me, but she was always the one people listened to. I still remembered when Oscar made a massive mistake that cost us nearly half a million—and all I did was call him out on it. Clearly, he’d been waiting for payback.
I clenched my jaw, swallowing the rage and humiliation. “Oscar, don’t leak those photos. It’ll damage the company.”
This business was my life’s work. I couldn’t let it burn over someone’s petty revenge.
Oscar just laughed instead, louder this time.
“Well then, Teddy,” he said, “I guess it depends on how badly you want to protect it. If you get down on your knees and beg, I’ll keep the photos to myself.”
My heart dropped.
We had a major deal on the table right now. If those pictures got out, there was no way the client would go through with the contract.
