Chapter 5

The crowd started jeering.

I knocked the cloth out of her hand, my face rigid with shame and anger almost overwhelming me.

But Scarlett leaned in and whispered in my ear, "I know it was you at the karaoke bar that day. Should I tell all your old friends to go take care of your 'business'?"

The color drained from my face, and a chill ran through my body.

Before my family's bankruptcy, they had treated me like a princess on a pedestal.

Now, I'm sure they'd be more than willing to watch me fall and be humiliated.

I instinctively wanted to escape. I looked around, seeking help.

But Scarlett curved her lips into a smile. "Let's play a game. If you can find someone willing to save you, we'll let you off today."

My hands shook as I took out my phone, barely managing to dial Alexander's number.

Into the phone, I pleaded desperately, "Alexander, I know you've found out the truth about why you approached me, but I really never bullied Scarlett."

"For the sake of all I've given you these past three years, please save me! They want me to do a striptease... They're really going to assault me!" I was on the verge of kneeling, looking completely broken.

Those people watched me with amused expressions, as if enjoying a show.

I touched my earlobe, making sure that object was still there.

Thankfully, ever since the last humiliation, I had prepared something special for them, just in case.

Before I could finish speaking, Alexander's impatient voice came through, "Now that you know my identity, you're trying to butter me up? Using our relationship to threaten me? I never had any real feelings for you!"

"Just do whatever they tell you to do."

"I saw with my own eyes how badly Scarlett was hurt. Just as Scarlett said, you're nothing but a liar! You owe Scarlett this much. She has a soft heart; if you apologize sincerely, she won't make things difficult for you."

The blood vessels in my head throbbed, and I could barely make out what he said after that.

Seeing Scarlett's triumphant smile, I lowered my head.

...No one was going to save me.

Scarlett waved her hand and announced into a microphone, "Come on, strip her clothes off and let her give us a striptease show today!"

"We're all looking forward to the great Olivia Reed's striptease performance!"

I tried my best to dodge, but grabby hands came at me from all directions.

Seeing that I wouldn't comply, someone grabbed a fork and stabbed it into my hand. Blood sprayed everywhere.

Someone else kicked me hard. I crawled on the ground, my mouth filled with the taste of blood.

Suddenly, Scarlett came over and tried to rip open the buttons on my chest. I dodged to the side.

I grabbed the microphone next to me and smashed it towards Scarlett's head.

A hush fell over the crowd.

Following the crowd's gaze, I saw Alexander standing in the doorway.

He walked over to Scarlett with concern, checking her injuries.

Her hand was only red from the impact. The blood on it was actually mine.

"Alex, baby, I was just trying to help Olivia fix her clothes. Look what she did to me..." She pouted, looking wronged.

Alexander looked at Scarlett's hand covered in my blood, then glared at me angrily. "And here I was worried about you, coming to check on you."

"You really are the same as always, just betraying people's trust."