Chapter 2
Rage surged through me. I stepped forward and slapped Olivia twice across the face.
“Olivia White, you seem to have forgotten who gave you everything you have today! How dare you lay a hand on Emily!”
Olivia was the daughter of my father’s war buddy. When her parents died when she was young, she came to live with my family. My parents raised her like their own daughter.
I pursued her for ten years before we married. After the wedding, I gave her everything.
I started a company for her. When she said she didn’t want to be a housewife, I left the company to fully support her from behind the scenes.
And now, for the sake of this scumbag, she publicly struck our daughter!
Olivia cradled her cheek, disbelief written across her face.
“James Sullivan, you dare to hit me?”
Derek immediately began shrieking. “How dare you! A kept man hitting people! Beat him!”
The coward had seen me take on several bodyguards earlier, so he hid behind Olivia and urged the others to attack.
Over a dozen men rained blows on me as Emily cried out.
“Mom, stop them! Don’t hurt Dad!”
Olivia approached, her voice ice cold.
“Do me a favor. Apologize to Derek and take the ungrateful brat home.”
“Then we can still be a family!”
I spat out a mouthful of blood. “Apologize to him? He’s not worthy.”
Derek wailed even louder. “Darling, it’s all my fault. I’m not worthy. I’ll leave! I’ll jump into the sea as soon as I’m outside. I’ll let your kept man and the little girl have their way!”
Olivia’s expression changed. “James! Don’t forget you promised to listen to me in everything when I agreed to marry you.”
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. “Do you still deserve that promise now?”
Olivia snarled, “He’s just a secretary who makes me happy! What about you?”
“You spend all your time fussing over that useless brat! Ignoring my feelings, neglecting the business. You’re nothing but a shameless parasite!”
Emily broke down sobbing. “You’re the shameless one! I don’t have a mother like you!”
“You abandoned me alone in the park back then! The nanny took the blame for you!”
“You told her to buy coffee, then took a call and left!”
“I was almost assaulted by a homeless man! It was all your fault! You’re a monster!”
Emily’s accusations hit me like a thunderbolt!
So the root of our daughter’s long-standing fears was abandonment by her own mother!
“You bitch!” I slapped Olivia again, enraged. “You’re not fit to be a mother! If I’d known you were the one who hurt Emily, I would have thrown you out long ago!”
Olivia’s head snapped to the side from the force of the slap. When she turned back, her eyes glittered with venomous hatred.
“You dare bring up the past? I should have stripped her naked and thrown her to the beggars back then!”
Her poisonous glare pierced Emily. “You stole your father’s attention as a child, and now you want to seduce my man? You want men that badly? I’ll give you what you want!”
She jabbed her finger at Emily and screeched.
“Tear off her clothes! Whoever ruins her gets a million dollars!”
The bodyguards lunged at Emily like hungry wolves!
I struggled desperately to reach her, but the earlier kick and my injuries left me pinned down by two burly men, unable to move.
“No! Stop! She just turned 18. I’ll do anything, just let her go!”
I howled in anguish as I watched over a dozen rough hands rip at Emily’s dress. My daughter’s pale skin was exposed to the cold air.
The sound of tearing fabric pierced my ears.
The bodyguards hastily undid their pants, their heavy bodies pressing down on Emily’s trembling form.