My friend and I had just finished dinner and were about to leave. Someone suddenly stopped us, insisting that I pay the bill for another table. I refused, saying I didn’t know them. The woman immediately exploded. "Damn it! You should be honored to pay the bill for me! How dare you disrespect the Smith Group? You’ve got a death wish!" Before I could say anything, she grew even more arrogant. "Do you know who I am? I'm Henry Smith’s wife! He’s the chairman of the Smith Group! Scared now?" I froze for a moment, then dialed Henry calmly. “I hear you have another wife at the company?” *** The moment I hung up, that woman was completely enraged. She snatched my phone and smashed it onto the floor. "How dare you call for help? You’re not walking out of this restaurant today!" "Stop!" My childhood friend, Alice White, pulled me behind her. "So this is how employees from the Smith Group behave? Stopping strangers to force them to pay and then getting physical?" The woman's face flushed red from Alice's words. "Yeah. What? In Metrocity, Smith Group is everything!" "It’s an honor for you to pay my bill. Do you understand?" "You want to talk rules? My words are the rules!" I laughed out loud and looked up at Karen. "The Smith Group trained you to rob people like that?" Karen snorted and shouted like a shrew, "Letting you pay is giving you a chance to climb up the ladder! Lots of people would kill for such a chance, you know?" Climb up the ladder? Since when did the Waynes need to cling to anyone in Metrocity? I glanced at my friend’s darkening expression. She was from a top family from Lordecity. She never imagined she'd get bullied like this by a poor employee from the Smith Group in Metrocity. Karen sneered and waved toward the entrance. "Listen up. In Metrocity, I make the rules! Grab these two idiots!" As soon as she finished speaking, several bodyguards in black suits rushed in and surrounded us. Alice instinctively pulled me behind her. But there were too many of them. Before she could act, two bodyguards seized her arms. "Alice!" I tried to rush forward, but something struck the back of my neck. My vision went black. Through the haze, I saw Alice struggle and curse. Then someone punched her hard in the side of the face and blood instantly seeped from the corner of her mouth. I was pressed to the ground and could only watch as Karen lifted her foot and kicked Alice in the stomach. "You dare meddle in my business? Today I'll let you know the consequence of messing with the Smith Group!" Then her bodyguards started hitting me. Alice had only come out to have fun, yet she was dragged into this absurd mess. I shouted hoarsely, "Karen, I'm Henry's legally married wife!" I pointed at Alice, who was pinned beside me. "And she's Alice White from the White family in Lordecity! Release us now, and we’ll let this slide!" Karen froze for a second, and then she burst out laughing. "You’re Henry's wife? She’s from the White family? Have you gone crazy or something?" The people at her table all laughed along. "Everyone knows Chairman Henry's wife is Ms. Karen." "How dare she bluff like that?" "The White family? Lordecity? I've never even heard of them. She's probably just making it up to scare us." Karen bent down and grabbed my hair. "Say one more word about being his wife, and I'll rip your mouth apart." "I’m his wife. You’re definitely not." "Don’t you dare say that again, understand?" Alice was pinned to the ground with blood at the corner of her mouth. Yet she still chose to mock me. "Lily, this is hilarious." "The mistress thinks she is the legal wife and is beating the real legal wife up." Her words stunned me for a second, then I laughed too. Karen was still gripping my hair. I suddenly jerked my head and bit down hard on her wrist. She screamed in pain, and her grip instantly loosened. Using that moment, I drove my knee hard into the crotch of the bodyguard behind me. As he doubled over in pain, I grabbed a beer bottle nearby and smashed it into another bodyguard's forehead. By the time Karen reacted, I was already in front of her. My clenched fist was slamming into her face. The sudden counterattack stunned her. She staggered back two steps, blood immediately pouring from her nose. "You bitch! How dare you?" Karen shouted in shock and rage. She reached for my face, but I grabbed her arm and slammed her to the ground. I straddled her and threw punch after punch. The Smith Group employees panicked. Reeking of alcohol, they rushed over to pull me away. "How dare you hit Ms. Karen? You crazy bitch!" At some point, Alice had also broken free. She kicked away the person lunging at her and yelled at me, "Damn it, beat the crap out of her! I've never been humiliated like this in my life!" In the chaos, someone grabbed a chair and smashed it into my back. I let out a muffled groan but didn't stop. Karen screamed as she was beaten. She clawed desperately at my hair. "Everyone! Kill her! I'll take the responsibility—triple bonus!" The employees surged forward like maniacs, grabbing my arms, clutching my waist, even kicking the backs of my legs. Taking advantage of the struggle, Karen suddenly kicked me hard in the stomach. I stumbled back two steps. Just as I was about to charge again, a voice rang out from the restaurant entrance. "Everyone, stop right now!"
Two people in police uniforms squeezed their way in. When they saw the mess all over the floor, they frowned. But when their eyes landed on Karen, who was lying on the ground with a swollen, bruised face, their expressions changed instantly. "Ms. Karen? What are you doing here? What happened?" One chubby police officer hurried over. He reached out to help Karen up. When Karen saw the police, it was as if she had found her backing. She pointed at me and Alice and started shouting. "Peter! These bitches had gone crazy! First they refused to pay the bill, then they even assaulted us! Look at what they did to me, and my employees too. We were all injured by them!" The chubby officer glanced at the injuries on us and didn't take them seriously at all. Instead, he put on a stern face and shouted at us. "Who are you two? How dare you cause trouble here? And you even dared to hurt people from the Smith Group? You've got some nerve!" Alice said, "She asked us to pay her bill for no reason and attacked us first." "Nonsense!" Karen cut her off immediately. "I was being kind and trying to make friends with them. I only asked them to pay the bill for me. They turned hostile right away and even pretended to be my husband's wife and someone from the White family in Lordecity." The chubby officer clearly believed her. He pointed at the shattered beer bottles and overturned tables on the floor. "No matter what, you beat her into this state and smashed up the restaurant. That means you're in the wrong!” “Let me tell you, in Metrocity, nobody dares to disrespect the Smith Group?” “Ms. Karen is right under Chairman Henry. Disrespecting her means disrespecting the Smith Group. You're going against the rules of the entire city!" The other, thinner officer had already taken out his handcuffs and waved them. "Enough talk. Come back to the station with us first.” “Oh, and the bill for Ms. Karen's table, the restaurant’s damages, medical costs, and emotional distress. You two will cover it all.” “Then you gotta kneel down and apologize to Ms. Karen. Maybe this can still be settled privately." I laughed in anger. "On what grounds? She started the trouble. You don't even bother to find out the facts before convicting us?" “On what grounds?” The chubby officer waved his hand impatiently. "Because you're outsiders! Since you're here, you follow the rules here. Ms. Karen was being nice to let you pay her bill. Don't be ungrateful!" Alice sneered. "You mean Metrocity's so-called rules can override the national law?" The thin officer stepped forward and reached for me with the handcuffs. "Heh, still talking tough? Looks like you haven't learned your lesson!" I dodged him. He flew into a rage, suddenly pulled out a stun baton, and turned it on. He jabbed the stun baton toward me and said, "So you want it the hard way? You're asking for this!" The electric current shot through my limbs. My whole body went numb, and I nearly collapsed. Alice reacted quickly and caught me. She shouted at the police. "How dare you abuse your power?" "Abuse of power?" The chubby officer also pulled out a stun baton and aimed it at Alice. "I'm carrying out official duties. In Metrocity, anything involving the Smith Group is a big deal. People like you who don't know their place need to be punished!" Alice let out a muffled groan as she was shocked. A burnt smell filled the air. "A bunch of damn fools! You'll regret this one day..." "Regret?" The chubby officer laughed even harder. He lifted Alice's chin with his baton. "I won’t regret anything, but you will, when you're both locked up and getting beaten every day." He turned to Karen with an ingratiating smile. "Ms. Karen, is this enough? If not, just tell us what we should do." Karen watched from the side with satisfaction. "Beat them. They need to learn who really calls the shots here." The chubby officer kicked me once and then bent over toward Karen again. "Ms. Karen, can you give us a hint? About when is your due date?” “We wanna prepare some gifts to congratulate you and Chairman Henry." The thin officer nodded eagerly as well. "Exactly. Please honor us then and let us share the joy.” “Maybe Chairman Henry can help promote us somehow." When they mentioned this, Karen smiled. "Four or five months more. It's a boy." Karen was pregnant? When I heard that, my mind went completely blank. I had been away on a business trip for half a year and had only just returned to Metrocity. And Henry already got her pregnant? My blood rushed to my head. I had been married to Henry for two years. He always used being busy with work as an excuse to put off having a child. I struggled to get up. When the thin officer saw me still trying to move, he jabbed the stun baton straight into the back of my neck. The electric shock made my vision go black. I nearly collapsed onto the floor. Seeing this, Karen casually grabbed a stool and raised it, about to smash it down on my head. At that moment, the sound of hurried leather shoes rang out from the restaurant entrance.
When Henry swept his gaze over the wreckage on the floor, he didn't even frown. But when his eyes landed on Karen, his tone softened a little. "What happened? Who hurt you?" Karen immediately put on a wronged expression. "Henry, you're finally here. These two have gone crazy. One pretended to be your wife, and they assaulted us. They even dared to attack the police!" The chubby officer hurried over. "Chairman Henry, you came at the perfect time! These two outsiders were causing trouble. They even insulted you and Ms. Karen. We're handling it." Henry's gaze finally fell on me, as if he were looking at something filthy. "Lily, I really underestimated you. You were away on a business trip for half a year, and now you've grown bold enough to fight with others?" He then glanced at Alice. "And look at the trashy friends you make. How dare you come to Metrocity to cause trouble?" I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and said, "Henry, let me ask you something. Karen claims she's your wife. And why was she asking me to pay for her bill?" Henry went silent for a while and then turned to the chubby officer. "Officer Peter, what exactly happened?" The chubby officer paused for a second and then put on a look of righteous indignation. "Chairman Henry, it was really outrageous!” “It’s all her fault! The moment she walked in, she started shouting at Ms. Karen, saying she looked familiar. She insisted on paying for Ms. Karen's bill, trying to make friends with her." He pointed at me and continued, "Ms. Karen declined. But this woman kept bothering Ms. Karen. She said Ms. Karen was disrespecting her. Then she started bragging about how rich she was." The thin officer added, "Yeah! We already checked it out. The waiter can testify too!” “Ms. Karen declined, and this woman suddenly snapped. She said Ms. Karen wasn't respecting her. She even cursed Ms. Karen, saying she wasn't worthy of you or the Smith Group!” “Ms. Karen couldn't take it and argued back. That's when she started hitting people!" Alice was so angry that veins bulged on her forehead. "This is completely twisting the truth! It was clearly her..." The chubby officer suddenly shouted, "Shut up!" "Stop twisting the fact! If you hadn't been fanning the flames, saying Ms. Karen didn't deserve it, would things have escalated?" Karen covered her mouth and coughed. "Henry, I know she might have wanted to get on good terms with me, but her way was too...” “I just didn't let her pay my bill, and she lost her temper. She even said she'd ruin the Smith Group and make us regret it..." Henry's face turned completely cold. "Lily, I never imagined you could be this outrageous.” “I can understand why you wanna cozy up with Karen. But you shouldn’t assault people after being rejected!" He didn't wanna hear my explanation. His voice was filled with disappointment. "I think this half year on business trips has damaged your brain.” “How dare you start assaulting people like that? Lily, can you have even a shred of dignity?" "I didn't..." I had just opened my mouth when he cut me off harshly. "You didn't? The police have already told me everything. And you still want to argue?" Henry pointed at my nose. "You're truly beyond saving. You 're used to living off others. Trying to latch onto everyone you see. When you get rejected, you go crazy. How did I ever end up marrying you?" Karen pretended to persuade him. "Henry, don't get so angry. She might have just been confused..." "Confused?" Henry turned to the police. "I think it's her nature. Officer Peter, handle it however it should be handled. Not a single cent less in compensation!” “I really wanna know how she is gonna pay!" I looked at how confident he sounded, and felt kinda disappointed. So in his eyes, I had already become such a despicable person. I stared at Henry's indifferent face and suddenly laughed. "Fine. You want compensation, right? So, how much?" Henry looked at me as if he had just heard some joke. He sized me up from head to toe and then said, "Five million! Do you have that much? I don’t think you can even come up with ten grand, do you?" Alice didn't answer him. She just took out her phone. "Five million, right?" I pressed my lips together and looked at Alice. "Send a message to my dad too. My phone was smashed." Karen and the police started laughing at us. "Keep pretending!" "You can get five million? In your dreams!" The chubby officer came closer with handcuffs. "Stop wasting time here! Put your hands out and come back to the station with us!" The thin officer stepped forward directly and reached for my arm. "You want it the hard way, so let’s do it the hard way." Alice shifted to stand in front of me. "What's the rush? The money will be here any second." Karen laughed even louder. "Really? Can your dad bring so much money? I seriously doubt it!" The employees behind her joined in the laughter, and the restaurant filled with mockery. The chubby officer impatiently shoved Alice. "Enough! If you don't comply now, I’ll stop being so nice!" Just as he raised his hand to cuff Alice, a deafening roar suddenly came from overhead. Immediately after, the ground began to tremble slightly. Alice and I both looked toward the restaurant entrance. "They're here."
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