He Called The Heiress A Gold Digger

Chapter 3

After hanging up the phone, I scrambled over to check on Mom. She was staring blankly at the swimming pool, mumbling the same words over and over under her breath. "The necklace... it's gone..."

I gently wiped her face clean. "Mom, we don't need it anymore. We'll buy you a nicer new one later."

Her eyes landed on the finger-shaped bruises around my neck. She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "Okay, we don't need it."

The next day, the Mercer household descended into chaos right on cue. The servants were whispering that more than a dozen projects had been scrapped out of nowhere.

I was mopping the floor in the hallway when a man in an assistant's uniform burst through the study door, his face white as a sheet with panic. "Mr. Mercer, we found out who's blocking all our projects," the assistant gasped. "It's Arthur Garrick, the richest man in the country. He personally made an announcement last night. Anyone who does business with you is declaring war on the entire Garrick Corporation!"

Richard's face turned purple with rage. He paced back and forth across the study like a caged tiger. "But I've never done anything to cross him!" His face drained of color a second later, and he sighed heavily. "Fine. s***h the profit margin on the east city project by ten percent. And he's coming to the city tomorrow. Whatever this is about, arrange a welcome banquet. I'll apologize to him in person."

That evening, the housekeeper tossed an insulated food bucket at Mom. "The Mercer family doesn't feed dead weight," the housekeeper barked. "Take this soup to Mr. Mercer at the office."

I was worried sick about her going alone, so I snuck into the trunk of the car right before they left.

I'd barely snuck into the office area when I saw Rosalie dump the soup all over the computer with a loud slosh, then swing back and slap Mom hard across the face. "Elena, you did that on purpose!" she shrieked. "This file is the Mercer Corporation's last lifeline!"

The slap was so hard that Mom's knit hat flew right off, exposing her scalp, which was cut into a patchy, uneven mess after Riva had hacked at her hair with scissors. The group of veteran employees around us burst into raucous, mocking laughter.

"What happened to your hair?" one employee jeered. "Did a dog chew it off?"

"She literally pissed Mr. Mercer's grandma to death back in the day," another whispered. "What gives trash like her the right to even step foot in the Mercer Corporation's building?"

Mom crouched down, clutching her head. "I didn't... it wasn't me..."

Just then, Richard walked out of his office.

Rosalie's eyes shortcut to the side for a split second. She turned to grab a tissue and pretend to wipe down the computer, fumbling to press an unmarked button as she moved.

The big public screen in the office flickered to life all of a sudden, showing a video of Mom from over a decade ago. Her face was flushed bright red, and she was slumped on a couch in a bar, her clothes all messy and disheveled. A bunch of men were leering at her and creeping closer with lecherous grins.

The clip only lasted three seconds, but Richard's face turned thunderously dark. He clenched his fists so tight his knuckles popped. The other employees sneered and whispered among themselves, disgust written all over their faces.

"What was she thinking, betraying Mr. Mercer with trash like that?"

"You get what you pay for, and some people are just trash who love digging through the gutter."

Rosalie immediately threw herself in front of the screen to block it. "Richard, don't look! Someone definitely set Elena up on purpose! Elena was only in her early twenties back then, she didn't know any better. Those men must have tricked her..."

Mom stared frozen at the screen, then let out a sharp, bloodcurdling scream. "I didn't! Don't touch me! I'm scared!" Sobbing hysterically, she scrambled to hide under the desk. Her forehead smacked against the edge of the table with a dull thud, and blood trickled down her face.

Richard's face was thunderous. He reached under the desk and hauled her out roughly by the arm. "Quit playing the victim! Isn't this exactly what you did back then? You betrayed me for a lousy 500,000 dollars, you gold digger! Even getting assaulted by all those men was your own fault!" He spat every word out through gritted teeth, his voice low and venomous. "Elena, you'll never live that down for as long as you live!"

The last flicker of light in my mom's eyes died out completely. Her lips trembled as she babbled a desperate, barely coherent defense. "I'm not lying... I'm not a gold digger..." Without warning, she slammed her forehead hard against the floor. "I'm not… I'm not!" Once, twice. Fresh blood seeped from her forehead, but she didn't stop. "I'm not a gold digger..." She kept repeating the words over and over, like she was completely unhinged.

A high, buzzing roar filled my head. I threw my arms around my mom and screamed at Richard at the top of my lungs, tears streaming down my face. "Don't you dare call my mom a gold digger! She's nothing like that!"

Richard snarled, "She is! Everyone knows it!"

I screamed back through my sobs, "My grandpa is Arthur Garrick! Why the hell would my mom care about a measly 500,000 dollars?"