Chapter 14 Slapping Nina

Nina's bitchy attitude and reputation as a flirt had made her widely disliked among her colleagues, especially the female ones who found her pick-me attitude insufferable. While her talent for attracting male attention was begrudgingly acknowledged, it did little to endear her to her peers. Regardless, Nina went too far this time. Felicia decided she had had enough. In a fit of anger, she rose from her seat, stormed over to Nina, and delivered a resounding slap across her cheek. The force of the slap left Nina bleeding from the corner of her lips. Felicia stared at Nina with a cold, disdainful glare. "You don't get to call someone else a b*tch when you're the pick-me bitch who seduced her best friend's boyfriend!" It had been something only Sabrina and Nina knew. Hearing it from Felicia's lips killed a lot of Nina's indignance. "She's lying to you! She's lying to frame me! I'm the one who knew Aaron first! Aaron's first love was me! She is the pick-me bitch who stole him away from me!" Nina snarled. Sabrina, who had kept silent until now, remained composed and let Nina continue her tirade. Felicia didn't hold back her words. "No, you're lying to yourself. I wouldn't even look at you if someone like Sabrina were nearby. She's beautiful, cool, and nice. Unlike you!" She delivered her words without hesitation. Nina felt humiliated. The female half of the office, though, was pretty stoked to see Nina acting this way. They clustered together and gossiped just loud enough to let Nina hear them. Everyone was calling her a b*tch. No one stood on her side. Nina shot a hateful glare at Felicia and Sabrina, who turned away from her. She hated Sabrina to her bone, but she also knew she had indeed stolen Sabrina's boyfriend. It wasn't a sympathetic position to be in. In any case, sympathy did not matter now. All she wanted was to keep her job. She would repay Sabrina for the humiliation she had suffered today. As gossip continued to swirl, the supervisor, Sharon, heard of the incident and summoned Nina to her office. Despite the door being closed, the rest of the department could hear Sharon hounding Nina and the latter begging for mercy. Everyone was sure Nina was going to be fired. To everyone's surprise, Nina eventually emerged from Sharon's office and returned to her desk with red eyes. She had somehow managed to keep her job, although she had been removed from participating in the upcoming party. In her place, Felicia was chosen to attend. * It was almost time for Curtis's welcome party. "Mr. Walton, Miss Roth will show up at tonight's party. Are you sure you want to go?" Duke had only known that from visiting the administrative department. He saw Sabrina leaving her desk early and had asked her colleagues about it. It was easy to guess the executives' motives by that point. Duke would have ignored this if it were someone else—he was already sure Curtis would be enraged to find out. However, one of the women turned out to be Curtis' wife, and that meant Duke had to report it. Curtis frowned. He immediately understood the executives' motives. He had not expected them to try this tactic at all. This had nothing to do with Sabrina—the fact that these execs thought they could manipulate and exploit their female colleagues for their own gain pissed Curtis off. "Victor. Tell Victor to go in my stead," Curtis instructed Duke. Victor Beumont was Curtis' best friend growing up. He was also one of the companies' shareholders who rarely made his appearance known. Nonetheless, he had accompanied Curtis on his trip to this particular branch company. "Ooh, where am I going?" Victor chimed in as he walked inside, smiling. "Hold up, before that… Is it true? Your gramps said you married this lady named Sabrina. And then I heard Duke has been rearranging your schedule for the past few days so you could avoid seeing her in the company! "Really makes a man curious, huh? What sort of woman would make you finally say yes?" Victor added. Victor was too curious to let this pass up. He was, by his own admission, a gossipy man—which he promptly insisted to be a universal trait among humans. Some people just pretended not to care better than others, in his opinion. "It's a mutually beneficial cooperation at best," Curtis replied. Victor shook his head. "The more formal you try to make it sound, the more surprise it's going to cause. You two are even living together! If you fall in love with this Sabrina for real one day… don't say I didn't expect it." Curtis thought he was insane. How could they fall in love with each other over a period as short as a year? "You don't look like you believe me, but fine. The fate of a prophet, I guess. Where's this place you want me to go?" Relieved to shift the conversation back to the business at hand, Curtis briefed Victor on the event details. "Ugh, I already don't like what I'm hearing… Don't worry, though. I'll help you solve this… and get a good look at your mysterious wife!" Victor really wanted to know who Sabrina was. Firstly, she was the woman who had convinced his best friend to put a ring on it. Secondly, Daniel had nothing but tall praises for her. "Don't you tell her who I really am, Victor! She thinks I'm just a normal salaryman for now, so don't ruin it!" Victor was shocked. Why the hell was he hiding his job from his wife? "Because I don't want her to marry me for money. I told her we were only going to be together for a year. If she finds out who I am… she might not want to go through with the divorce. I don't want that to happen. Ever." Curtis simply did not believe anyone could resist the temptation of money. He did not trust her at all. Hiding his identity would allow him to get a better glimpse of who Sabrina Roth was as a person.