Three months pregnant and my husband’s newly hired secretary suggested the whole company play a murder mystery game.
When the scripts were handed out, the secretary was quick as lightning, snatching up the lead female role meant for me.
“Miss Brooks,” she said sweetly, “I grew up in the countryside and have never played anything like this before. Can I have this role?”
I was about to refuse, but my husband snatched it first and made the decision for me.
“Of courses you can, Peyton. I’m sure Allie won’t mind.”
With the lead role in hand, the secretary slapped me across the face as part of the “game.”
I was furious and was leaving.
But my husband, wanting her to have a more “immersive” experience, ordered the bodyguards to pin me down.
The secretary kept murmuring “sorry,” but her hands didn’t stop—she slapped me seventeen times in a row, then drove her foot into my stomach.
When I saw blood, I begged my husband to save the baby.
He only frowned. “Peyton faints at the sight of blood. I’ll take her to the hospital first. You’ve just gotten your period early—must you really make up lies like this to trick me?”
By the time a passerby got me to the hospital, the baby was already gone.
I felt dead inside. Without hesitation, I pulled out my phone and booked a ticket to leave the country.
——
The booking had just gone through when David walked in empty-handed, not a shred of remorse on his face.
“Allie, why are you in the hospital?”
I said nothing.
He sat down by my bed, picked up an apple, peeled it and held it to my lips.
“Peyton’s just a young girl. Don’t be too hard on her. She hit you because the game called for it. So…” his tone turned serious.
“I want you to withdraw the lawsuit against her.”
I froze. It took me a long moment before I could speak. “I didn’t file a lawsuit.”
His face darkened. “Don’t play games with me, Allie. Peyton told me she received your lawyer’s letter—what’s there to deny?”
Then, in a softer tone, “She’s just a young girl trying to make it in this city. Don’t be so petty with her.”
I turned to look at him, catching sight of an unmistakably intimate kiss mark on his collarbone.
Noticing my gaze, David quickly pulled his collar tight, forcing a laugh. “A mosquito bit me last night. I didn’t want you to misunderstand, so—”
Before he could finish, someone burst into the room and dropped to their knees beside my bed with a thud.
Peyton’s eyes brimmed with tears, her voice trembling in pitiful sweetness.
“Miss Brooks, please don’t sue me. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just heard that with these murder mystery games, you should follow the script… I didn’t expect it to be written like that.”
She lowered her eyes, biting her lip like some fragile beauty. “I know it’s all my fault. I’ll kneel to you if that will make it right. I’m just a poor girl from the mountains, with no connections or backing. This is the only way I know to apologize to you.”
Saying this, she shuffled backward on her knees, about to knock her head on the floor—but David yanked her up and glared at me with pure disgust.
“Allie Brooks, you’ve gone too far!” he snapped.
“Peyton hasn’t done anything wrong. What right do you have to pick on her? Apologize to Peyton right now and drop the lawsuit, or don’t blame me for cutting off your mother’s medical expenses.” His disgusted glare lingered on mine.
Watching the man I’d secretly loved for ten years stand on the other side, defending another woman, my heart twisted painfully in my chest.
I clenched the bedsheet in my fists. My voice was hoarse. “I told you, I didn’t sue her.”
A flicker of guilt crossed Peyton’s eyes before she suddenly stepped forward again, pretending to kneel.
“Miss Brooks, I know your family’s rich and powerful. I know you’ve never cared about people like us. But I… I really can’t take this kind of pressure. Please, don’t sue me.”
David caught her before her knees touched the ground, then turned to me, eyes bloodshot.
“Are you deaf, Allie? I told you to apologize. Did you not hear me? Do you still want your mother’s treatment paid for? Don’t forget—everything you have right now, you owe to me.”
I stared at the man who had once sworn to cherish me for life, never letting me suffer even the smallest grievance.
And here he was, standing beside another woman, forcing me to bow my head.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
Still, I held my ground. “Believe it or not, I didn’t sue her,” I started, “I had only just woken up. How could I have had time to file a lawsuit?”
When I caught the flicker of panic in Peyton’s eyes, the truth hit me. This was her doing.
But David didn’t believe me.
He was certain I was just refusing to admit it.
