Violet hadn't held back with that slap, and I staggered back several steps. My hands flew out behind me to brace against the edge of the table.

The agony coming from my abdomen intensified, and I couldn't even stand straight because of the pain.

Violet shook out her hand, wearing a vindicated expression.

"Look at how she can't even hold her head up anymore! People like her deserve to be hit. That'll knock out the arrogance right out of her."

My back was still bowed when I felt Violet grab me by the scruff of my neck.

Squeezing tightly, she said in a venomous tone, "Elena, we Gen Z employees are here to shake up the workplace. There's no way I'll put up with your crap."

I reached out to grab her sleeve, wanting to retaliate, but she quickly shoved my head down and bashed it against the table.

"Hurry up and cough up the money!"

Gritting my teeth, I adamantly refused to submit. "All you did was make a few presentation slides, yet you want to split my commission? You seriously don't know your place, huh?"

Immediately, Violet scowled. "Oh, so you think that you alone are the entire reason for the deal's success, huh? That we're in no way comparable to you?"

The rest of our colleagues were equally upset to hear that, and they glared at me furiously.

"Don't flatter yourself! For one person alone to get that much commission is just too unfair for the rest of us!"

As the crowd grew more agitated, I didn't bother being polite and retorted, "If this had been another company, you all certainly wouldn't have gotten as high a commission as you did here for the amount of work you did. The company is already being very generous."

I wasn't exaggerating. For the entire duration of the project, I had personally seen to every phase, as I had been worried about things going wrong. Even when I had this group of people help me deal with some random tasks, I still had to rectify and edit their work.

Nonetheless, on account of them being on the project team, I asked my mom to increase their commission share. This was the sort of benefit they couldn't possibly receive in any other company.

The moment I finished speaking, Violet was already egging the crowd on.

"Elena must have been badmouthing us to President Kinsley, and that's why he cut our commission! If we continue to let her trample all over us, she might just steal all our salaries for herself one day! What are you guys waiting for? Go on and teach her a lesson!"

"Violet… what if President Kinsley finds out?" someone asked hesitantly.

That earned him a vicious glare from Violet before she shrieked shrilly, "Don't worry about that bastard she's carrying! She was the one who picked on us first. If President Kinsley learns about this, we'll just have him choose between this bitch and the rest of us employees! Without us, how is his company supposed to function?"

"You're right! There's no way President Kinsley would ignore the bigger picture!"

Thoroughly consumed by their rage, the male colleagues cracked their knuckles menacingly.

"What are you trying to do!" I cried in alarm.

The next second, the group of men lunged toward me. One of them grabbed me by the hair, while another kicked the back of my knees.

Following that, countless punches and slaps rained down on me, sending waves of pain through my body.

I focused entirely on protecting my belly, the agony coursing through me making me gasp for breath.

Through my blurry vision, I could see Violet standing in front of me with a haughty expression.

In the chaos, one hard punch landed against my temples and thoroughly robbed me of any will to fight back.

If this went on, I would definitely be beaten to death right here.

No, I couldn't let anything happen to my baby!

In that moment, all thoughts of any commission were shoved to the very back of my mind.

Swamped by despair, I yelled as loud as I could, "Stop hitting me! Please, just stop hitting me! I'll give you the money to divide between yourselves, so please just stop! Don't harm my baby!"

Violet called them off before crouching in front of me with a wide smile.

"Here. Now send the money over!"

I took my phone, which they had smacked away earlier, and transferred Violet the money with shaking hands.

Violet couldn't keep her lips from spreading into a delighted smile when she read the notification informing her that she had received a bank transaction.

Only once the other colleagues saw that Violet had received the money did they step away from around me.

"I've given you the money, so can I go now?" I panted, barely clinging to my consciousness.

"Go on, leave! Don't stick around here like an eyesore!"

The male colleagues were staring at their phones with pleased smiles. Clearly, all they cared about right now was money.

"We can't let her go!" Violet suddenly shouted.

Everyone was confused and turned to look at her.

"Violet, we've already gotten the money. Why can't we let her leave?"

Violet's gaze raked over my battered body, and I could see a hint of malice flash in her eyes.

"Considering how badly you've beaten her up, she's definitely going to report this to President Kinsley."

At that, they took a good look at me, noting the bruises and swelling all over my arms and legs. There were even several bright red handprints on my cheeks.

Sucking in a deep breath, they asked fearfully, their voices shaking, "What do we do? She's President Kinsley's woman. There's no way he'll let us off the hook for this!"

"Calm down. At this point…" Violet deliberately paused before saying harshly, "we might as well just beat that bastard in her belly to death."

Her words stunned everyone, freezing them to the spot in shock.

"What are you saying! That's President Kinsley's baby we're talking about! Do you have a death wish?"

Naturally, there was no way everyone else would be able to accept this ridiculous idea. They were only after the money; they certainly didn't want to lose their jobs!

However, Violet chuckled and went on to explain, "If we allow her to give birth to that baby, President Kinsley will definitely continue to let her do as she pleases in the company. By then, she'll be throwing her weight around every day, and we'll have no choice but to submit to her every whim.

"President Kinsley definitely has no shortage of women around him, so without a child, I'm sure he'll grow bored of her soon enough."

Digging my nails into my palms, I screamed with every ounce of energy I could muster, "If any of you dare to harm my baby, President Kinsley will have your heads!"

Cowed by my words, the others began to talk Violet out of her idea.

"You do hae a point, but President Kinsley's first reaction to losing the baby will surely be anger."

"That's right. By then, we won't even need to wait for him to grow bored of Elena. We'd have already been fired long before that and blacklisted!"

Nonetheless, Violet seemed calm and unfazed as she replied, "What are you guys afraid of? I already have it all planned out. I'm going to seek out President Kinsley's wife and have her back us up. After all, we're helping her get rid of President Kinsley's mistress and illegitimate child, so I'm sure she'll support us!"

That finally convinced everyone enough for them to agree with her idea.

Seeing that, I immediately made a phone call.

"Mom, they're trying to kill my baby at the company—"

In the next second, however, Violet had snatched my phone from me and ended the call.

"What are you all still standing around for? Get her! Are you going to wait till she calls President Kinsley for help?"

The men who had beaten me up earlier were swiftly overcome by fury again, and they pinned me to the table edge once more.

Unlike before, when they had purposely avoided my abdomen and only hit me in the arms and legs, this time, every single hard punch landed right on my protruding belly.

I screamed in agony, my vision growing spotty as my consciousness threatened to leave me.

Just as I thought both me and my baby were about to die, a familiar voice hollered authoritatively, "What are you doing!"

Opening my eyes, I saw that Mom had appeared at the back of the crowd.