Ferdinand's expression changed instantly. He scooped Mabel into his arms and shouted, "Call an ambulance. Now!"
When they came out of the hospital, his face was still dark as a storm.
He walked right past me. Brushed my shoulder without so much as a glance. From start to finish, he never once looked at me.
"Ferdinand!"
I called after him, my eyes burning red.
He stopped mid-stride and turned, giving me a single cold look.
"Georgette, I haven't even had the chance to settle the score with you yet, and here you come waltzing in on your own."
I stood frozen. The indifference in his eyes, the detachment, made him feel like a stranger.
"It wasn't me—"
I tried to explain on instinct, but he cut me off.
"You're still going to deny it?"
His expression turned glacial.
"Georgette, you're ruthless in business. You know how the world works. When you do something wrong, you face the consequences."
The moment the words left his mouth, the bodyguards around us closed in.
The blood drained from my face.
"Ferdinand, can you use your head for one second? Why would I ever order seafood for a company lunch?"
But he wasn't listening.
"Because you couldn't fire Mabel. Because you're jealous that she's pregnant. So you came up with this disgusting scheme to torment her."
"You nearly killed her. You think there shouldn't be consequences?"
Ferdinand stepped forward himself and pressed his hand down on the back of my head.
He forced me to my knees. To apologize to Mabel.
"Mabel may only be an intern, but she has her dignity."
"Whether or not you ever become Mrs. Gilbert, the first thing you need to learn is basic human decency."
"So. Apologize."
Humiliation flooded through me, wave after wave, endless and suffocating.
I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted iron.
"Ferdinand, in your dreams."
"Isn't this what you've always wanted? To break off the engagement? Fine. I'll grant you that wish."
I tilted my chin up to look at him.
Ferdinand seized my jaw in one hand. "Even without your permission, whatever I want to do, I'll do."
He had his men throw me into a walk-in freezer. Called it a two-hour "reflection period."
"Mabel is carrying a child. This is only a warning."
"She works at your company. She may just be an intern, but I want you to understand exactly what she means to me."
"I expect nothing like today to ever happen again."
When I finally stumbled out of that freezer, my entire body was shaking. My teeth chattered so violently I couldn't clench them still.
Ferdinand had sent my driver and my car away.
I pulled out my phone with trembling fingers to call a ride. A new Instagram story from Mabel popped up on my screen.
"Thank you to our Mr. Gilbert for the homemade lunch box he made with his own hands. Being his little wifey is the best..."
"And our little baby in Mommy's tummy should remember to thank Daddy too!"
My grip tightened around the phone until my knuckles cracked.
Ferdinand hadn't agreed outright to break off the engagement.
But I'd swallowed enough. I refused to be the only one choking on this humiliation.
They'd used this to make me sick.
I was going to make them just as sick.
So when Ferdinand found me that night, I was wearing a slinky little slip dress, swaying on the dance floor, surrounded by a handful of pretty young male models.
His face went black as thunder.
He stormed over and yanked me off the floor.
"Georgette, are you drunk? Let me sober you up."
He grabbed a glass from the nearest table and threw the contents in my face.
But I just laughed. Wild, reckless, unrestrained. I grabbed him by the collar and leaned in close, deliberately goading him.
"Weren't you the one who said it? We can keep the engagement in name only. So what's the harm in me ordering a few pretty boys?"
