Bad Situation

Furious, Queenie jabbed a finger in my face. "You're nothing without the company! Don't give me that smug look!"

"Really? I don't think so." I took my seat again and turned back to my coworkers. "Where were we? Come on, don't let these clowns get in the way of the party."

My coworkers nodded, and the air was slowly filling up with laughter again. Anthony and Queenie were ignored.

Anthony was irate, and now he was the one jabbing a finger at me. "If you keep this up any longer, I'm canceling our engagement, Christina! Riveropolis will have no place for you!"

I shot him a quick look. "You're still here? What are the guards doing? Guards! I reserved this place. I need you to kick the uninvited guests out."

A group of guards stepped into the room. Queenie was nearly screaming with rage. She cursed and raised her hand against me. "You can't do this to Mr. Shawlesque, you bitch!"

A guard grabbed her hand before it could land, and she could not move an inch. Queenie immediately put on a mask of pain and wriggled her wrist. "You're breaking my hand!" she screamed.

Anthony felt her pain. "This isn't over, Christina! I'm suing these guards for assault! You're going to apologize to Queenie or else!"

I sneered again. Anthony could shout until his face turned blue, but I could not care less.

My disinterest got through to Anthony. He threw a scathing glare at me and left in a hurry with Queenie. He did not want her to get hurt again.

I went to the company the next day to pack my stuff up.

One of my coworkers came up to me and whispered, "Queenie took over your office first thing in the morning, Christina. This is bad."

A frown creased my forehead, but I went to my office anyway. There was no one inside. I heaved a sigh of relief and started packing up my stuff.

Halfway through, Queenie came in with a group of guards. "This is my office, Christina! You're trespassing! You're a thief!"

I stopped packing for a moment and looked at her coldly. "This is my office. I'm packing my stuff. I'm not stealing anything."

She sneered and came up to me, staring me straight in the eye. "Don't try to argue with me! You're fired, so this is now my office!"

I pointed at my belongings sitting on the desk. "I might be fired, but I have a right to my personal laptop and documents."

She was ready for this. "That's not personal! The company's top secrets are inside! You can't take them away!"

I laughed mirthlessly. "Guess we'll have to involve the cops, then."

That wiped the smile off her face. She would not dare call the cops, but she was not going to let me embarrass her. Queenie started scanning the office.

Then she noticed something. "You stole top-secret files belonging to the company! I bet you're trying to sell them off, aren't you?"

The commotion caught a lot of people's attention, including Anthony's. He came to the office in a hurry. First, he scanned the scene, then he looked at Queenie, and finally, he turned to me.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Christina?"

For the first time in my life, I felt like I did not know this man. He was a joke.

"You bought that bullshit story?"

Anthony was about to say something, but Queenie was faster. "I saw it with my own eyes, Mr. Shawlesque! I bet she's going to sell the secrets to our competitor! The Prosper Co. deal is coming to us very soon! We can't let anything leak!"

Torture

This was a clown show. All these documents, all the data, were all my work. I compiled them and wrote them out line by line, and I had to work through the night multiple times. I could take my own work. This wasn't stealing.

"You know how much I've done for the company. Now you're accusing me of corporate espionage? Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Anthony's eyes darted around. "It doesn't matter. You're fired. You shouldn't even be here. That's not right. You can't take these things away."

Queenie added, "And she can't leave either! We must lock her up until the bid's over! God knows if she's going to tattle to the whole world!"

It was absurd, but Anthony thought Queenie had a point. He looked at me with eyes filled with cold disappointment.

"You disappoint me, Christina. To think I treated you well, yet you would do this to me out of hatred."

This was unbelievable. To think Anthony would believe Queenie's idiocy that easily. "Are you out of your mind, Anthony! Do you have any idea how much I've sacrificed for the company? Why would I do anything like that?"

Queenie was still fanning the flames. "Don't waste your time with her, Mr. Shawlesque. Just take her in for interrogation. We'll find out who she's working with."

Anthony nodded and swung his arm forward. "Take her away!"

I tried to fight back, but I was outnumbered. The guards pinned me down and locked me in a tiny room.

The lights flickered on. Anthony was standing in the corner, observing me with icy indifference.

Queenie was approaching me, her lips curled into a twisted smile. She was holding a pair of pliers. "Now I'll need you to be honest. Tell us who you sold the secrets to."

I clenched my teeth and gave her a defiant glare. "I sold it to no one! This is an unfounded accusation!"

Queenie slammed her foot into my belly. I curled up in agony, and sweat poured like rain.

"Someone's tough." She went down and clamped one of my fingers with the pliers. "Now are you going to talk?"

I kept my lips closed. There was no way I would submit to these people.

Anthony's patience was running thin. His eyes held nothing but disdain. "Spill it out, Christina. You know how much I hate traitors."

I was still silent. Queenie clenched the pliers down and started pulling my nail out.

The pain made me scream, and my forehead was throbbing, yet she did not stop. "Fine, keep your secrets. You'll have to pay for that."

Every time she pulled, my soul started tearing itself apart. My body was convulsing involuntarily. The pain was unbearable, and it nearly knocked me out.

Anthony still watched on with indifference, as if my torture was just a show on a screen.

"You can't hold on forever, Christina. Spill the beans, and you'll suffer less."

I spat out a mouthful of blood. A guttural growl tumbled out of my throat. "God is watching, Anthony! He'll smite you!"

Queenie plucked another of my nails out and tossed it on the ground. "And you'll be seeing God first."

The pain was making the world itself blur. I was piled on the ground like jelly. My heaving chest was the only proof that I still lived.

Anthony frowned. "Enough. Don't kill her. We need answers from her."

Ferguson's Win

Queenie finally stopped. She smacked the pliers against my cheek. "This is a little lesson, Christina. I can kill you like an insect anytime I want to. Don't try to take Anthony away from me. You'll never win."

She fell into Anthony's arms and left the room together. I was imprisoned, waiting for death to come to me.

The pain would not stop undulating across my body. Every time I breathe, needles would prick my lungs, and ants would bite every inch of my skin.

Just when despair was about to eat me whole, someone opened the door very carefully. There was only an infinitesimal crack.

"I'll get you out of there, Christina."

It was Leslie, one of my subordinates. He was very gentle with me, yet he still touched my wounds by accident. I grunted.

"Was that your wound? I'm really sorry, Christina."

I gritted my teeth and shook my head. "It's nothing. Just get me out of here."

Leslie nodded and slowly made his way to the company's entrance. The moment we came out, we were met with a row of cars. Liam came up to me right away. "What happened to you, Christina?"

I squeezed a smile. "It's nothing I can't handle."

We got into the car. Liam noticed my messed-up hands, and he cried. Gently, he cleaned my wounds and put balm on them. Then he bandaged them up.

Quietly, I looked at him. "I will get the Prosper Co. deal next month, Liam."

…

A month went by. It was the bid. Everyone knew that anyone who could snag the Prosper Co. deal meant they could become the top family in Riveropolis.

Liam and I went into the hall, and we ran into Anthony and Queenie.

Anthony looked at me icily. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Christina. Look at you, looking like a loser. Only an idiot like Liam would take you in."

Queenie, as always, played along. "Yeah. Your proposal is worthless. You're only going to embarrass yourself. I'm friends with Prosper's CEO. He respects me. Don't even try to pull anything. You're never going to win."

Liam frowned. Solemnly, he said, "It's too early to count your chickens."

Anthony scoffed. He did not see Liam as a serious competitor. "You think anyone here's a match for me? You think you are? Wake up. Your family's never won against mine. Not even once."

The emcee took to the stage and opened up the envelope he was holding. The noises died down. Silence took over. Everyone's eyes turned to the stage.

"After stringent evaluation and shortlisting, the company that will take the Prosper Co. deal is…" A momentary pause later, he announced, "Ferguson Group!"

The smile on Anthony's face froze.