And, with that, Debbie continued living under my roof, without anyone else ever consulting me for my opinion.

That night, Debbie knocked on my door asking me to go down for dinner. After rejecting her thrice, she started crying loudly outside my door.

She continued wailing like a banshee outside my door, attracting Harvey's attention at once. She then told him, "I think Belle hates me. I asked her to come down for dinner and she started yelling insults at me."

I opened my door with a dark expression, staring at Debbie, who was crying her eyes out.

Harvey immediately rushed up and pulled Debbie into his arms. "Don't cry anymore. Leave this to me."

Debbie then pulled out a hair clip from her pocket and handed it to me. "Belle, this is something I made myself. Please accept it. Can't we just get along well after this?"

Before she could even finish her sentence, I interrupted her, saying, "In your dreams. What's the point of your pretense? Who do you think you're trying to fool?"

Debbie then retreated into Harvey's arms as soon as I was done speaking. Harvey was so mad that he rushed up to me and gave me a tight slap.

"Belle Sallow! I've already warned you before. Debs is pregnant. You shouldn't have triggered her emotions like this!

"You're such an evil bitch! Are you trying to give her a heart attack?"

Harvey glared at me like I was a death row inmate, deserving nothing less of the death penalty.

His slap completely shattered the last of my feelings for him.

I glared angrily at the disgusting couple before me, marched up to Harvey, and slapped him on the face, twice. I used up all of my strength, and Harvey's cheeks immediately swelled up. He stared at me in complete disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind? How dare you hit me?"

I looked at my reddened palms and laughed coldly. "You were the one who started it. Why are you yelling at me now? What's the meaning of this?

"Did you really think that I, the heiress of Sallow Group, would ever allow you to trample over me just because you felt like it?"

Sandra heard the commotion and hurried over to make peace. "Belle, Harvey was just overreacting. Don't blame him for it."

Seeing that I still wasn't backing down, she hurriedly tugged on Harvey's sleeve, giving him a few pointed looks.

This had been the first and only time Harvey had ever laid his hands on me. I could tell that he was panicking internally.

However, maybe because Debbie was still there, or maybe because he was being too egotistical, he just looked away and refused to apologize to me.

"Harvey Jepson!" Sandra yelled. She knew very well that if we continued being tense at each other like this, Harvey would end up being the one with the short end of the stick.

"I was rash earlier. But if you had just come down for dinner when Debs told you to, none of this would have happened."

How was this even considered an apology? He was just blaming me for being unreasonable at best.

I felt my heart sinking into the pits of my stomach. I didn't even bother going down for dinner after that.

I didn't see the Jepsons again for the rest of the night. Fiona felt sorry for me and brought me dinner instead.

The next morning, I woke up sometime in the afternoon. Seeing that they were preparing to have lunch, I just went out without a word.

My assistant at the company, Joanne Barber, told me that word had gotten around to the company employees about Harvey bringing home a pregnant woman after coming back from his work trip, and there were plenty of people now gossiping about me.

Just half an hour after I'd left, Harvey sent me a text message ordering me to bring home two jars of Manuka honey for Debbie. He also told me to bring home some fine jewelry and other gifts for her as a form of apology for angering her yesterday.

His domineering tone as he ordered me around made me want to laugh.

I replied, "If she wants them, get them yourself."

Just as I was done sending the text message, Fiona then told me that Debbie had intercepted all of the health supplements Mom had sent over for me, claiming that they were all beneficial for the baby in her belly.

I asked, "What did they say?"

Fiona answered with a huff, "The Jepsons were practically overjoyed. They told her to take whatever she wanted and tell them if she wanted to eat anything else."

Mom often sent me health supplements every three months because she was concerned about my health. I never thought that even the Jepsons would want to steal those from me.

Even Sandra, who often knew where to draw the line, had allowed it to happen. If that was the case, I didn't need to care about their feelings or their egos anymore.

Since they were treating me like this, what was the point of me still defending their fragile egos, after all?

I went straight to the company and gathered all of the upper management for a meeting. After learning about the company's latest updates, I decided to reposition myself back at work and informed them, "From today onward, I will be taking back control over Sallow Group. Harvey Jepson is now forbidden from even taking a single step into this building!"