Chapter 4
703 Words
The doctor's voice from the phone exploded like a thunderclap right in my ear.
I spun around, my legs stumbling and unsteady under me.
Andy suddenly clamped down on my arm with bruising force, not giving me an inch of room to argue.
"Didn't you hear me? Get on your knees right now and apologize to Alexa!"
I thrashed against his grip as hard as I could, "My mom's had a heart attack!"
Not a single flicker of emotion crossed his face, not even for a second.
"Your mom's already in the hospital, the doctors are taking care of her. Nothing, not even the end of the world, is getting you out of here tonight. You don't apologize, you don't leave this door. Period."
Something deep in my chest shattered into a thousand sharp pieces all at once.
I laughed through the hot tears pouring down my face.
"Do you even know what she showed my mom…"
Andy's face darkened, his patience snapping clean in two. "Go. Now."
I could feel my mother's life slipping away, so I stopped struggling.
I wobbled unsteadily over to Alexa and dropped hard to my knees.
"I lost control and hit you earlier, Ms. Walker. Forgive my outburst. I. Am. Sorry!"
Alexa smiled, drunk on her victory, but she wasn't done with me yet. "You just about snapped my neck, Mrs. Ferrell. If you don't punish yourself with a hundred slaps, how can that really prove you're sincere?"
I lifted my head, stunned.
My mom couldn't wait that long!
The next second, Andy's cold, flat voice rang out behind me, "Do exactly what Alexa says."
I turned to gape at him, unable to believe what I'd just heard.
I remembered that time I'd thrown a whole glass of red wine all over a business tycoon who'd tried to harass me. The man had demanded I slap myself to apologize back then.
Back then, Andy, who always cared more about his reputation and status than anything else, had stood right out in the open by my side.
"I love my wife's blunt, no-nonsense personality. If you want her to slap herself, you'll have to kill me first."
Back then, he took the punishment right in front of everyone. He was forced to smash a wine bottle over his own head, and left bleeding badly from his cuts.
But now? Here he was, standing firmly by Alexa's side, ordering me to slap myself a hundred times.
Every last spark of hope died in my chest. My heart might as well have been cold ash.
Under that woman's taunting, mocking gaze, I lifted my hand and struck my cheek, over and over again.
"I'm sorry..."
Every guest at the party froze, stunned completely silent by the brutal scene unfolding in front of them.
By the time the hundredth slap landed, blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
I fixed my full, burning glare of hatred straight on Andy. "Are you satisfied now?"
Andy's breath caught in his throat, and he stepped forward like he was about to reach for me.
But before he could move, I turned and ran out of the venue, not looking back once.
When I finally skidded through the hospital entrance doors, all that waited for me was my mother's official death certificate.
"Miss Stacey, please accept my condolences."
In that split second, my whole entire world came crashing down around me with a deafening roar.
Waves of crippling grief crashed over me, and I suddenly coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood.
End of Stacey's POV
Back at the party, Andy could not stop thinking about how frantic Stacey had looked earlier.
He swirled his wine glass and sipped absently, his mind stuck on the image of her panicked, disheveled figure right before she left.
It was not until the host called his name to go up and give his speech that he snapped back to the present.
He stepped under the blinding spotlight, every eye in the room fixed on him.
But just as he opened his mouth to begin…
A group of gossip reporters burst through the doors.
The next second, shocking, jaw-dropping footage began playing across the venue’s giant screen.
- Writer
