Chapter 2

The slap came out of nowhere, leaving my head ringing.

The other parents closed in, pointing at me as they mocked me without restraint.

“You look like a respectable woman. Of all the things you could’ve done, why become some married man’s mistress and have his child?”

“It’s always the innocent-looking ones who are the worst behind closed doors. The moment she sees a rich man, she practically goes into heat. She probably can’t wait to throw herself at him!”

“Mistresses are a disgrace to women. Their children are even worse. That brat deserves to die!”

Their accusations quickly drew a crowd.

More and more people gathered around us, pointing and whispering.

Some pulled out their phones to take pictures and record videos. Others spat at me.

I took off my coat, worth well over a hundred thousand dollars, and threw it into a nearby trash can.

Then I turned to face Noah’s mother.

“First, you ordered your son to torture my daughter. Now you’ve assaulted me in public.”

I stared straight into her eyes.

“Who gave you the nerve to act as though you’re above the law?”

She lifted her chin arrogantly.

“A wife hitting her husband’s mistress is perfectly justified.”

“Besides, I’m the wife of Goldcrest Group’s CEO. Slapping a filthy woman like you and your worthless daughter is nothing.”

Her lips curled into a cold smile.

“Even if I killed both of you, what could anyone possibly do to me?”

The other parents immediately rallied behind her.

“If you hadn’t become a mistress, why would Noah’s mother have hit you? You brought this on yourself.”

“A shameless homewrecker like you should keep your head down when you see the lawful wife. Instead, you deliberately provoke her. One slap was letting you off easy.”

“Exactly. Are you addicted to sleeping with married men? Who are you trying to fool with that innocent victim act? We’re not the lust-crazed men you usually manipulate!”

Even the bystanders joined in.

One insult was more vicious than the last.

Their support only made Noah’s mother bolder.

Her gaze shifted to the car behind me, and her eyes blazed with anger.

“You shameless tramp. You don’t feel guilty spending my husband’s money, do you?”

She pointed at the Rolls-Royce.

“You’re even driving a car like this? What makes a cheap mistress like you think you deserve it?”

“I hate homewreckers more than anything in this world. Every last one of them deserves to die!”

She pulled a key from her purse and dragged it forcefully across the side of my car.

The sharp scrape of metal against paint filled the air.

When she stepped back, several jagged words had been carved into the car.

HOMEWRECKERS DESERVE TO DIE!

I glanced at the words and spoke in a voice as cold as ice.

“You’re going to realize very soon just how ironic those words are.”

That sent her into a rage.

“You shameless woman! You live off my husband’s money, yet you still have the nerve to act high and mighty?”

She bent down and grabbed a brick from the curb.

“Today, I’m going to make you return every last cent you stole from him!”

She swung the brick into my car.

The window shattered.

Then she smashed the headlights and brought the brick down on the hood again and again.

She didn’t leave a single part of the car untouched.

The other parents became just as frenzied.

They grabbed anything they could use and threw themselves at the Rolls-Royce, smashing it from every direction.

Once the windows were broken, several of them climbed inside and slashed apart the seats and interior.

Within minutes, the pristine luxury car had been reduced to a mangled pile of metal.

Then one of the women forced open the trunk and cried out.

“Come look! She has all kinds of expensive things hidden back here!”

Noah’s mother walked over and casually pulled out a scroll painting.

Her lips curled in contempt.

“A cheap tramp who makes money by selling her body is pretending to be an art collector?”

She held up the scroll and sneered at me.

“Letting someone like you own a work of art like this is an insult to the artist.”

“Garbage like you only deserves garbage!”

Right in front of me, she tore the painting apart.

Then she threw the pieces onto the ground and ground them beneath her heel.

Someone in the crowd who seemed knowledgeable about art leaned closer to examine the torn fragments.

His face changed instantly.

“That looked like an authentic Tang Yin!”

His voice rose in shock.

“I heard the opening bid at the auction was over forty million dollars!”

Noah’s mother didn’t show a trace of fear.

“Forty million? So what?”

She crossed her arms and spoke as though her reasoning were flawless.

“It was bought with my husband’s money anyway.”

“My husband’s money is my money. What’s wrong with me destroying my own property?”

Her shamelessness left me speechless with rage.

Ethan had married into my family with nothing to his name.

Even after I placed Goldcrest Group under his management, his incompetence had driven the company’s market value down by nearly half.

If he weren’t my husband, I would’ve fired him long ago.

Yet Noah’s mother and every parent standing there treated him like some all-powerful CEO.

They practically worshipped the ground he walked on.

With Noah’s mother leading the destruction, the other parents refused to be outdone.

They tore through the rest of the collection in my trunk, ripping and smashing everything they could reach.

I had purchased every item at an auction earlier that day for an enormous amount of money.

I hadn’t even had time to move them into storage.

Now, they had all been destroyed.

I watched the mob of lawless lunatics and quietly took out my phone.

“Why aren’t you here yet?”

My voice was controlled, but every word carried an edge.

“You have five minutes. I want you standing in front of me by then.”

Before the person on the other end could respond, one of the parents lunged forward and snatched the phone from my hand.

She slammed it onto the pavement.

“Still trying to call for help? You’re nothing but a mistress who can’t show her face in respectable society. Where do you get the nerve?”

“Look at her putting on an act. Does she really think she’s some important woman?”

“She’s probably calling one of her clients to come over and help her put on a show for us!”

The parents burst into vicious laughter.

I looked down at my shattered phone.

“I hope you’re all still laughing this hard in a few minutes.”

Then I turned to my daughter’s teacher.

“My daughter was being bullied at this school.”

I held her gaze.

“You knew about it, didn’t you?”

The teacher glared at me with open contempt.

“So what if I did?”

“A bastard daughter born to a lowlife mistress is nothing but society’s garbage.”

She gave me a cold, dismissive smile.

“Noah was only taking out the trash. What’s wrong with that?”