Chapter 2 - THE WRATH OF THE SOCIALITE
Victoria Vance stood over Chloe like an enraged queen.
Her breathing was heavy, making the blood ooze faster from her collarbone.
The white silk gown was ruined beyond repair, stained a grotesque purple and crimson.
The wealthy onlookers did not step forward to help Chloe.
Instead, they pulled out their phones to record the drama.
To them, a poor waitress getting beaten was just free entertainment.
"Call the police right now!" Victoria demanded, turning to the hotel manager.
The manager bowed his head repeatedly, trembling in fear of the Vance family name.
"Right away, Miss Vance, please calm down," the manager stuttered.
Chloe tried to push herself up from the floor, but her hands slipped in her own blood.
The pain in her palms was sharp and agonizing.
Every movement pushed the tiny glass shards deeper into her skin.
"Don't touch me, don't look at me!" Victoria yelled, kicking a piece of glass toward Chloe.
The glass cut Chloe's ankle, adding another line of red to her skin.
Chloe looked up through her wet hair, her eyes filled with tears.
"Please, it was an accident, you backed into me," Chloe whispered softly.
Her voice was drowned out by the murmurs of the crowd.
"How dare you lie!" a friend of Victoria shouted from the crowd.
"She did it on purpose, she was jealous of Victoria's dress!" another voice chimed in.
The lies spread through the ballroom like wildfire.
Nobody wanted to defend a nameless servant against the richest girl in the city.
Victoria enjoyed the support of her peers, her ego puffing up despite her injury.
She raised her hand to strike Chloe once more.
She wanted to leave a scar that Chloe would never forget.
Chloe flinched, pulling her arms up to shield her face from the blow.
She waited for the pain of another slap, closing her eyes tightly.
But the strike never came.
A heavy, powerful silence suddenly fell over the entire ballroom.
The guests stopped whispering, and some even stepped backward in fear.
Chloe opened her eyes slowly to see what had happened.
A tall, imposing figure was now standing between her and Victoria.
It was Arthur Harrington, the most feared businessman in the country.
His face was carved from granite, expressionless and cold.
His dark eyes were fixed entirely on Victoria, filled with a dangerous light.
Victoria froze, her hand still raised in the air.
She forced a fake smile onto her face, trying to look like the victim again.
"Mr. Harrington, look what this clumsy rat did to me," Victoria whined.
She pointed at her bleeding neck, expecting the billionaire to agree with her.
Arthur Harrington did not look at Victoria's dress or her wound.
He slowly took off his expensive suit jacket.
He knelt down on the dirty, wet marble floor, ignoring the wine and glass.
The entire crowd gasped in absolute disbelief.
A man worth hundreds of billions of dollars was kneeling before a maid.
He gently wrapped his jacket around Chloe's shivering shoulders.
His hands were surprisingly warm against her freezing skin.
He looked at the small birthmark on her shoulder, confirming his suspicions.
His eyes softened for a fraction of a second, filled with immense sorrow.
Then, he turned his head to look back up at Victoria Vance.
May you like
When he spoke, his voice was like ice cracking in a dead winter.
"If you ever touch her again, I will destroy your family by sunrise," Arthur said.
