Too Late, Mr. Matthews

3: 3

The transfer approval was still a few days out, and I wasn't about to cause a scandal at this exact moment and wreck my career prospects.

So at the business bid banquet the next day, even when I watched Lola make her grand entrance in a couture gown, I only watched coldly and let it go.

Until she walked straight up to me with a full glass of red wine.

A flick of her wrist.

The dark red liquid landed precisely on the core bid documents in my hand, the ones I'd spent half a month putting together.

The spreading wine destroyed all the data in an instant.

I raised my hand to slap her.

But before my hand could touch her face, Jerome strode over, clamped down on my wrist, and pulled Lola behind him in the same motion, shielding her completely.

"Lola, what the hell is wrong with you this time!"

Jerome glared at the woman behind him, his eyes vicious, his words brutal.

"Wasn't the beating you took at the club yesterday enough? Coming to a place like this to throw a fit. You think putting on couture washes off that cheap stink of a woman who spreads her legs for money? Get out!"

His words turned her eyes red, but she didn't back down, jutting her chin out and smiling with pure provocation.

"So I'm cheap! But back when you were holding me in that low-rent apartment, didn't you say this was exactly the way you liked me? If you've got the nerve, beat me to death right here in front of everyone. Jerome, do you dare!"

The two of them stood on either side of me, their eyes locked hard on each other.

That tension, like no one else existed, drew stares from the socialites all around.

Just as I was about to shake off Jerome's grip and get justice for myself, Jerome suddenly lowered his voice and ordered Lola,

"Apologize to her."

I froze for a second.

Lola froze too, staring at Jerome in disbelief.

"You want me to apologize to her?"

"I told you to apologize. Didn't you hear me?"

Jerome's face was cold, his voice carrying authority, as if in that moment he was giving me all the face he could.

Lola clenched her teeth and stared at Jerome for a long moment, then finally gave me a perfunctory twist of her lips, her tone flippant.

"Fine. Miss Fox, so sorry. My hand slipped. You're big enough to let it go."

Apology delivered, Lola turned and walked off.

I looked at Jerome coldly.

"This is how you're handling it?"

He turned to face me, his brow knotted tight.

"She already apologized. What more do you want? Regina, think of the bigger picture. It's just one document. Redo it when you get back. Do you really have to blow this up in front of everyone here?"

He even reached out and patted my shoulder in comfort.

"Be good. Don't stoop to a lunatic's level. Making her apologize is already the biggest lesson I could give her."

Watching how entitled he looked, all I felt was disgust.

He kept telling me to "think of the bigger picture," but what he was really doing was using one cheap apology to force my head down and shield Lola from every bit of trouble.

He was afraid I'd actually call the police, afraid I'd actually make a scene here and ruin Lola's reputation.

The two of them were having the time of their lives in their sea of love and hate, and the all-nighters I'd pulled, the sweat I'd poured in, meant nothing at all in his eyes.

"You're right."

I pulled up a smile with no warmth in it and tossed the wad of ruined paper into the trash can beside me.

"No point stooping to a lunatic's level."

When the banquet ended, Jerome's car stopped in front of me. He rolled down the window and, expression unchanged, gestured for me to get in.

I didn't move.

"I've got things to do. Go on without me."

I stepped past him and walked straight for the exit.

The cold wind hit, and the phone in my pocket buzzed.

It was a text from HR.

【Regina, your transfer application has been approved. Please complete your handover by this Friday and report to the Chicago branch first thing Monday.】

I looked at the notification on the screen and let out one long, heavy breath.