“Veronica is just trying to teach you a lesson. She doesn’t want to see you go down the wrong path, so don’t be ungrateful.”

“If you’re afraid of what people will say, then stop doing those dirty things. You want to sleep around and still act like a pure woman? You’re really something, you fucking slut!”

I couldn’t help but shake with anger, shouting at them, “Who gave you the right to insult me like that? You actually believe Veronica’s nonsense? Don’t you have your own judgment?”

A colleague snorted and said with a smirk, “The photos of you sleeping with someone are already all over the internet. Do you still have no idea about it?”

“Go online and see for yourself! You might be famous soon. An internet star in minutes!”

I unlocked my phone. Sure enough, the first notification on the city’s news feed was a video of Mr. Boyle and me entering a hotel together. The headline was bold and eye-catching.

[To Get a Promotion, She Seduced A Married Manager And Became His Mistress!]

I looked at Veronica’s smug face and asked coldly, “Have you been following me?”

She raised her chin proudly, responding, “What’s the problem? You did something dirty, but now you’re afraid of being exposed?”

“I’m just doing the right thing. Standing up for justice and punishing evil. I can’t stand women like you destroying other people’s families.”

Just then, the office door slammed open. A furious woman stormed in, her face twisted with rage. Veronica immediately rushed forward with a fake smile.

“Mrs. Boyle! I’m the one who messaged you just now. This is the woman who seduced your husband!”

Mrs. Boyle glared at me with eyes full of hatred and shouted, “You shameless slut! How dare you become my husband’s mistress! Do you even know who I am, you bitch?”

Before I could react, she grabbed my hair and drove her knee into my stomach. Pain shot through me as I almost fell to the floor. Meanwhile, Veronica opened her phone camera and started a live stream.

“Everyone, look! This is the mistress from the video I just posted!”

“She earns $4,500 a month, drives a luxury car worth millions and gets her hair done at a fancy beauty salon!”

“Yesterday, I even checked and found out she had a hundred thousand dollars in her salon account and each perm costs over a thousand!”

“I kept wondering where all that money came from. Then, I saw her going into a hotel with a manager from the head office!”

People online loved gossiping about mistresses. With the earlier video already spreading, Veronica’s livestream exploded the moment it started.

[Her slutty look says it all. She’s a real pro at seducing men.]

[You must charge a fortune for that body. Is it made of gold?]

[She’s not just a mistress. She’s using her dirty status to steal someone’s job! She deserves this humiliation.]

[Girl, hit her harder! Ten more slaps, I’ll send you money!]

My cheeks burned with shame and anger. Mrs. Boyle grabbed my hair again and screamed, “You’re going to return every cent my husband spent on you! After that, you will kneel down, apologize and swear to stay away from him! If you don’t, I’ll strip you naked right here!”

I tried to explain between breaths, “I have nothing to do with Mr. Boyle! I went to the hotel with him yesterday to meet a client!”

“Nonsense! You’re just a low-level salesperson from a branch office. How could you possibly be meeting a client?”

“Stop lying to me! Do you think I’m stupid?”

Veronica jumped in eagerly, “As soon as you walked into the hotel yesterday, I went to the front desk and asked around. It was obvious you booked a room!”

I turned to her, my voice cold and steady as I told her, “Veronica, spreading lies comes with responsibility. Are you ready to take responsibility for every word you’ve said?”

Veronica sneered, responding, “What else? Ask anyone here who would believe that a manager from the head office would bring a low-level employee from a branch to meet a client?”

“Your story isn’t even believable! If you’re that desperate, why not just admit you sold yourself?”

Her vulgar tone made my whole body tremble with anger.

I met her eyes and said firmly, “You’ve got it wrong. It wasn’t Mr. Boyle who took me to meet a client. It was me who took him there.”

“I’m the CFO of the head office, Mr. Anderson’s daughter. My dad had something urgent to do yesterday, so he asked me to meet the client for him.”

“I took Mr. Boyle with me because he knows the business better. It would be easier for us to handle the deal.”

Veronica’s face twisted as she laughed, saying, “Mr. Anderson’s daughter? Why don’t you just say you’re the US President’s daughter while you’re at it?”

“You lie so much you can’t even keep your story straight. So what now? You’re having an affair with Mr. Anderson? You call him ‘Daddy’ in bed and then pretend he’s your real father afterward?”

“Mr. Anderson’s daughter is the CFO of the company, but she’s working at a branch office and is trying to get a sales manager job? Who would believe that?”

I tried to grab my phone and dialed, “Dad, please come to the branch office and save me-”

Before I could finish, a big, dark-skinned man burst into the office and slapped the phone from my hand. “You bitch! You didn’t come home last night because you were sleeping with me!”

“If I hadn’t seen that livestream, I wouldn’t have known you were cheating on me!”

“You eat my food, use my money and now you’re seducing other men behind my back. I’ll teach you a lesson today!”

He grabbed my hair and slapped me hard across the face. I stared at him in shock.

“Who are you? I don’t even know you!”

“You don’t know me? I’ve been sleeping with you for over two years, but now you say you don’t know me?”

He turned toward the crowd and shouted, “Everyone, look here! This woman is my girlfriend. She used sweet words to trick me and threw herself at me. She only wanted my money!”

“I’ve been with her for two years. But she’s been asking me for money in every way possible. I didn’t expect she’d be seducing someone else behind my back!”

My colleagues looked at me as they looked at me in shock before they started to gossip more.

“No way, Isabella is really like that?”

“No wonder she wears designer clothes and carries luxury bags. She’s got more than just one man paying for her … ”

The man dragged me toward Mrs. Boyle and said, “Ma’am, I’m so sorry. I didn’t watch over my girlfriend properly. She caused you so much trouble!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with her when we get home. I won’t let her bother your husband again!”

The livestream’s comment section exploded. People online, who hated mistresses, didn’t find his violence wrong. In fact, they praised him.

[This guy is amazing! Even with his girlfriend cheating, he still apologized to the poor wife!]

[He didn’t even mention breaking up. He just said he’d go home and teach her a lesson. Is that love or stupidity?]

[This woman sure has tricks. She got exposed for having an affair with an older man, but her boyfriend still defends her.]

[Wait, didn’t her boyfriend just hit her? Isn’t that abuse?]

[What’s wrong with hitting her? She deserves it! Why should he act nice when he’s been cheated on?]

[Oh, look, someone’s trying to talk about domestic violence again. Stop defending the mistress!]

[When your husband cheats, don’t hit the mistress! Take her home and treat her well or she’ll look down on you.]

***

Veronica stood there with a smug smile, clearly enjoying the chaos. Fear rose inside me.

I shouted to my colleagues, “I don’t know this man! He’s not my boyfriend! Call the police!”

One coworker hesitated.

“Maybe we should call the police first? What if he really hurts Isabella?”

Veronica quickly snapped, asking back, “Why are you getting involved in a couple’s fight? If you call the police, she’ll probably accuse you of hurting her precious man.”

“Haven’t you seen those fake victims online?”

The kind colleague glanced at me again, but slowly put his phone back into his pocket.

Veronica winked at the man, who grabbed me more eagerly and tried to pull me away.

“You don’t even recognize me, do you? Fine, go pack your things and get out!” she shouted.

With my last bit of hope, I stared at Veronica’s phone, where she was live-streaming. “I really don’t know this man. Please, kind viewers, help me, call the police!”

Veronica hurriedly shouted back, “Don’t trust her. I’ve seen this man pick her up and drop her off after work.”

“Isabella, you have no shame. You don’t even know your own boyfriend, yet you’ll happily become a rich man’s mistress, right?”

I kicked and fought, but the man struck me hard and sent me sprawling to the floor. He roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the office. Panic and despair filled me while my whole body trembled with fear.

Mrs. Boyle took that moment to kick me in the face.

“Bitch, if you dare seduce my husband again, I’ll have someone kill you!”

I shut my eyes, feeling hopeless. Just before her foot hit, two sharp slaps sounded in the room. Mrs. Boyle let out a pained cry.

A fierce voice roared through the office, “What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know who you are messing with? You’ve gone too far this time!”