Better Without Your Love

"Let me see what she sent you," Lucas demanded, his voice tight with restrained fury.

Emily pulled out her phone and showed him the messages. The sender was apparently me. Her screen was filled with gruesome, graphic images, along with lengthy paragraphs filled with insults.

The more Lucas scrolled, the darker his expression became.

Emily shrank back and hesitantly said, "I wasn't going to tell you… I didn't want you and Jessica to fight because of me. But now that everyone thinks I'm your girlfriend, if you dump me, I don't even want to imagine what Jessica might do to me!"

Lucas snapped, "I spent a long time thinking this through before finally deciding to announce our relationship. But I never imagined you would be so cruel as to hurt Emily!"

Emily gently tugged at his sleeve to calm him down. "I'm okay—really! Please don't be mad."

"You're too kind, Emily. How would you even survive in this world without me here to protect you?" Lucas then turned to me, shaking his head in disappointment. "You don't need to clear anything up anymore. I no longer want you as my girlfriend.

"Take some time to reflect on what you've done, and don't contact me. I'll let you know when I'm ready to see you again."

In my previous life, whenever I upset Lucas, he would give me the silent treatment until he decided he wasn't mad anymore. Only then would I be allowed to see him again.

But that tactic had absolutely no effect on me now.

I immediately fired back, "So you're just going to believe whatever she says? If you're so gullible, you might as well step down and make Emily the company's CEO instead!"

As soon as my words fell, Lucas slapped me across the face, hard. My head snapped to the side, and pain spread through my cheek.

The loud crack of the slap drew everyone's attention. People started gathering around to watch the commotion.

Charles rushed over to help me up, fury etched across his face. "Have you lost your mind, Lucas?"

With all eyes on him, Lucas sneered. "Jessica's been meddling in my relationship with Emily and attempting to tear us apart. That slap was well deserved. Now apologize to Emily, Jessica!"

The humiliation threatened to drown me. It took everything I had to calm down. "Fine, I'll apologize to both of you right now. Are you ready?"

Lucas and Emily stood with their hands on their hips, smiling, waiting for my apology. My hands sliced through the air with force and precision, landing two clean slaps across both their faces. Their cheeks instantly became swollen.

For a second, the entire room froze.

"How dare you?" Lucas' rage boiled over as he raised his hand to strike me again.

"That's enough!" Charles stepped in, grabbing Lucas' wrist. "We're in public. Don't make a scene."

Before Lucas could respond, Charles led me out of the ballroom, shielding me from the chaos behind us.