Chapter 3

### Chapter 3

If my mother hadn't been pushing me so hard to get married, he'd have been a stranger to me, worth a second glance at most.

I couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on him.

"Since Mr. Winfield thinks I'm beneath him, then have your mistress give me back the gown. She isn't good enough for it."

"This wedding is off."

The words were barely out of my mouth before Rose Whitney cut in, unable to wait a second.

"You little slut, still putting on an act in front of Philip?"

"'This wedding is off.' Listen to that. How pathetic. At least a few thousand women have tried playing hard to get with him. I'm sick of watching it."

The crowd stirred again.

"Exactly. Do you even know who you've crossed?"

"All of Chicago is Winfield territory. Mr. Winfield could crush you under one foot."

They kept going on about how untouchable the Winfields were.

What they didn't know was that not long ago, Philip's father had been bowing and scraping in front of my mother like a lapdog.

I still had it on my phone: the video from when the lawyer announced that "once the wedding is complete, the ten-billion contract between the Fletcher conglomerate and Winfield Group takes effect immediately." Philip's father, that fawning smile still frozen on his face.

The whole pack of them was chattering, and it was giving me a headache.

"I just want to take back what's mine. Is there a problem with that?"

Philip Winfield gave a short, scornful laugh. "So in the end, this is about money."

He reached into the inner pocket of his suit for a checkbook.

"Wait!"

Rose suddenly caught his hand, a nasty little smile on her lips, and held her phone up in front of his eyes.

A few seconds later, Philip's face turned frighteningly dark.

"Rebecca, you not only slept around with some other man before the wedding, you've had multiple miscarriages too?"

One look at the smug expression on Rose's face and I knew exactly what filth she'd smeared on me.

These two were the ones running around behind everyone's backs. How did they have the nerve to turn it on me?

Watching Philip work himself into a fury, I knew there was no point saying much to him.

Still, I offered one line.

"Philip Winfield, that's your mother slandering me. I've never even kissed a man, let alone had a miscarriage."

"Slander?" He shoved the phone in my face, seething. "The doctor came forward to testify. The whole world knows you made a fool of me, and you've dragged my name through the dirt!"

I looked more closely. In the video, a man in a white coat was going on at length about how I'd come to their hospital more than once for an abortion, then threatened them to keep quiet.

The screen was full of comments calling me shameless, a whore, a money-grubber.

Faced with filth like this, even anger felt like a waste.

I pushed down the heat in my chest and let out a soft scoff.

"So what do you want, then? You're not thinking of shaking me down, are you?"

"Shaking you down? My reputation is worth more than your life. Could you even afford it?"

Interesting. I couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "I'd love to know. Exactly how much is Mr. Winfield's face worth?"

"A hundred million!" Before Philip could speak, Mrs. Winfield jumped in. "Our Philip is the Winfield heir, the future head of a ten-billion enterprise. You'll pay him a hundred million in emotional damages."

At that, the servers gawking by the door widened their eyes in disbelief.

Even Philip couldn't help giving a low cough.

"Mom, I just wanted to teach her a lesson. There's no need for a hundred million, is there? She's dirt-poor. How could she ever pay it?"

Mrs. Winfield planted both hands on her hips at once.

"Son, it isn't only your face she's cost us."

"It's the whole Winfield family's face! Once a scandal like this gets out, the Winfield stock price is bound to fall. Do I really need to spell out the losses?"

"Making her pay only a hundred million is us being merciful."

The moment she finished, Philip decided it made perfect sense, his eyes lighting up.

I folded my arms and smiled.

"A hundred million? Fine. But then..."