I frowned.

“What proposal? I have no idea what you're talking about. You're not welcome here. Get out!”

Alberta tucked Wilfred behind her and fixed me with a cold stare.

“Nathan, didn't I tell you before? You're not allowed to touch anything to do with the company. So why did you steal the proposal?”

“Don't tell me you're jealous of Wilfred. Bothered that I've been getting close to him? Why are you being so unreasonable?”

“I'll give you one chance. Hand over the proposal, and I'll forgive you.”

I'd never laid eyes on this so-called proposal. How was I supposed to hand it over to her?

I looked at Wilfred. The smug satisfaction on his face told me everything.

“I didn't steal any proposal. Wilfred is framing me. Call the police if you don't believe me.”

But Wilfred didn't panic in the slightest.

He spoke with absolute certainty.：

“Alberta, the proposal went missing only a little while ago, so it has to still be in the hospital……I'm betting Nathan hid it right here in this ICU!”

My mother lay on the bed, struggling to call out Alberta's name.

“Alberta……Nathan didn't steal any proposal……you have to trust him……”

I quickly urged Alberta too.

“I would never steal something like that, Alberta. Take your people and leave. My mother isn't well. You're disturbing her.”

I thought Alberta would trust me, just this once.

And even if she didn't, surely she wouldn't push this hard. My mother was lying paralyzed in that bed, after all.

But all it took was for Wilfred to say,：

“Alberta, maybe we should just let it go.”

“I know the team and I pulled three straight all-nighters to finish that proposal, but it's fine. We can just make another one.”

Alberta's expression changed in an instant.

She shot me a glance.

“So you won't hand it over? Then I'll just have to have it searched out.”

She gave the order to the bodyguards behind her.：

“What are you standing around for? Search every inch. Find the proposal Wilfred worked so hard on!”

The two bodyguards started tearing through the room at once. All I could do was keep my body between them and my mother.

I hadn't taken the proposal, so no matter how thoroughly they searched, they came up empty.

In the end, their eyes settled on my mother's bed.

I held my mother tight and turned to Alberta for help.：

“Alberta! I've said it a hundred times. I didn't steal anything, and there's no way I'd hide a proposal here with my mother. Take them and go!”

A flicker of hesitation crossed Alberta's face.

Before I could feel any relief, Wilfred suddenly pointed beneath my mother's pillow.

“Alberta, look. What's under the pillow?”

A bodyguard rushed over and yanked the pillow up hard, pulling a folder out from underneath.

On the cover, in plain sight, were the words “Project Proposal.”

Alberta's voice went ice-cold.

“Nathan, didn't you say you didn't steal it? Then what is this?”

But I didn't hear a word she said. I leaned in to check on my mother. When that bodyguard ripped the pillow up, he'd torn out the IV needle still feeding into her.

Blood was pouring from her neck, fast.

“Nathan, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?”

Alberta grabbed my arm.

In that moment, my loathing for this woman hit its limit.

I swung my hand and slapped her across the face.

“Get out! Take your people and get out!”

Alberta had never seen me treat her with such open contempt. Her pupils shrank, her eyes full of disbelief.

I had no time for her. I brushed past her and ran out to find a doctor.

By the time the doctor stopped the bleeding and pulled my mother back from the edge.

Alberta and Wilfred were already gone, but two new messages waited in my phone：

【Today is Wilfred's birthday. I'm throwing him a party. I'll come see your mother once it's over.】

【That whole scene earlier was your fault, when you get right down to it. From now on, keep your hands off anything that belongs to the company.】

I didn't type a single word back.

By dusk, two topics had crashed onto the local trending lists.

Number one: Southport's top businesswoman spares no expense for her young assistant's birthday.

I tapped it. Wilfred's birthday party was streaming live.

Alberta had her arm hooked through his, greeting her close friends and business partners one by one.

The way she carried herself, you'd have thought he was the husband.

It was a treatment I had never once received.

That was when I heard one of Alberta's closest girlfriends ask：

“Alberta, are you and our boy Wilfred finally about to make it official? That stay-at-home husband of yours should probably pack his bags and clear out, don't you think?”

Wilfred looked at Alberta, his eyes full of expectation.

She hesitated a moment, then answered with a smile：

“Clearly, Wilfred is the better choice.”

I closed the stream.

Number two was a video.

In it, inside a dim car, a man with a towel stuffed in his mouth was curled up, getting slapped hard across the face.

That man, beaten down to nothing, was plainly me.

The comment section was boiling over.

【Holy crap, what is this? Shouldn't somebody call the cops?】

【You living under a rock up there? The guy getting hit is Nathan James, Southport's number-one kept man, and his wife is Alberta Pruitt. Didn't you see she's right next door throwing a birthday bash for her little boy toy? This is obviously her birthday gift to her lover boy!】

【Oh, it's that kept man. Slap him a few more times for me, I love to see it!】

I closed the comments and met the eyes of the man in the video, humiliated and numb.

I told myself this was all about to end.

Just then a message came in from Alberta：

【Nathan, once Wilfred's birthday is over today, I'll have someone take that video of yours down. The internet has no memory. Everyone will forget it soon enough.】

This time, I replied.

【The party's at the Southport Grand Hotel? Good. I'm on my way to wish Wilfred a happy birthday.】

I called a courier right away and had him deliver two things for me.

The medical staff I'd hired arrived at the hospital. They would be responsible for my mother's safety during the transfer.

We headed straight for the airport.

Before boarding, I blurred a video heavily and uploaded it online.

Then I took my mother and left without looking back.

Alberta. Wilfred. The show's about to begin.