With “the richest man in Southport” backing her up, Meg made zero effort to hide the look on her face. She wanted to crush me and make an example out of it.
“Drag her out! As long as she's still breathing, keep hitting!”
Ken wrapped an arm around her waist, a faint smirk playing at the corner of his mouth：
“Even if someone ends up dead, I'll handle it!!”
The security guards hesitated for a few seconds, then closed in around me.
“Ken Simmons, I'm warning you one last time.”
“If you lay a hand on me, you're getting fired by corporate!”
Meg looked at me like I was the dumbest person she'd ever seen.
“She really has lost it.”
“Ken IS the one running the company behind the scenes. What's he going to do, fire himself?!”
Ken laughed too：
“You're a washed-up heiress with nothing to your name, and you actually think you matter?!”
“Take her away!”
A dark figure burst through the entrance.
My bodyguard. He dropped every single one of those guards before they knew what hit them.
I was done wasting words on these two idiots.
I pulled out my phone and called headquarters directly.
“Two minutes. Company-wide email. Strip Ken Simmons of his position as president of the Southport subsidiary.”
“Terminated. Effective immediately. Blacklisted from all future employment.”
The words barely left my mouth before Ken, pinned to the floor, started thrashing like a wild animal.
“Alice, who the hell do you think you are??”
“Keep pretending! Go on, keep up the act!!”
“You humiliated me today. I will NEVER let this go!!”
“Bodyguards!! BODYGUARDS!! Where the hell are you?!!”
I crouched down and patted his face, the skin sallow and hollow from too many late nights spent on the wrong things.
“Ken Simmons, what exactly do you think you are?”
“You're one fish in my pond. Did you really think you could make waves?”
Then I slapped him. Again. And again. Each crack echoed through the lobby.
Nothing wipes the arrogance off a man's face quite like an open palm.
“Alice! You psycho! I'm calling the police!!”
Meg was shrieking.
You'd think those slaps had landed on her face instead.
Well, since she wanted to step up, why should I hold back?
“And you, Meg. Enjoying my ring, are you?”
One look from me was all it took. My bodyguard seized her hand, pried the pink-diamond ring off her finger, and presented it to me with both hands.
“Ms. Pruitt, your ring.”
I glanced at it with open distaste.
“Hold onto it for now.”
“Have the jeweler come pick it up. I want it fully cleaned and reconditioned before it goes back on my hand.”
“Someone else wore it. It's contaminated.”
Meg's entire face contorted, as if I'd ripped the life right out of her.
“Give it back!! That's my engagement ring! It's worth six million dollars, enough to put you behind bars for LIFE!!”
A dozen bodyguards in black stormed into the lobby.
Ken's men.
He got to his feet and brushed the dust off his suit.
Flanked by a wall of muscle, his whole demeanor shifted in an instant.
The look he gave me was pure hatred laced with fury.
Funny. I was the one who gave him the money. I was the one who bankrolled his investment. I was the one who handed him the title of president on a silver platter.
I made him rich. I lifted him out of obscurity. And he had the nerve to turn around and hate ME.
“Ms. Pruitt, get behind me. I won't let anyone touch you!!”
Rufus Harding stepped in front of me without hesitation.
That broad back was the definition of security.
He was a retired international mercenary. His skills were the real deal.
One man against a dozen? Not even a challenge.
Broad shoulders. Narrow waist.
My eyes narrowed slightly.
Mm. Room for a new fish in the pond.
Then the receptionist let out a scream.
“Oh my God——”
“It's real! It's REAL!! Check the company-wide email, everyone!!!”
“Mr. Simmons, no wait, Ken Simmons, has actually been FIRED!!”
