Praise came from all around:

"This is what they mean by ’still waters run deep.’"

"Miss Shaw is so unassuming. Who would have thought?"

"I could tell she was exceptionally capable when she spoke about the rocket development process last time, and she’s amazed me again today."

"Beautiful, talented, and kind..."

Every word of praise for Sophia Shaw pierced Joanna Sherman’s ears, each one as painful as a needle’s prick.

Too ashamed to remain inside any longer, she turned and walked out.

Levin Sawyer watched her go with cold eyes. "Bitches are really something else, being so calm after such a massive humiliation."

Sophia Shaw took a light sip of her lime juice, the vermilion, tear-drop mole beneath her eye seeming to glint with irony.

"Her mother is even worse."

At least Joanna Sherman was an obvious parasite. Yvonne Sherman was like a rat in a burrow, draining you dry without a sound.

After she was done, she would still stand on the moral high ground, paint herself as the victim, and drag the very person who sustained her down to the eighteenth level of hell, leaving them infamous to this day.

Every time she thought of the terrible reputation forced upon her mother, Sophia’s heart grew turbulent, and a sharp pain bloomed in her chest.

’When will I be able to clear my mother’s name?’

’When will I be able to crush those who hurt her?’

These thoughts sent Sophia’s spirits plummeting.

She no longer had the energy to mingle. After a quick word with Levin Sawyer, she found a quiet place for herself.

The air outside was fresh. The faint scent of flowers mingled with the smell of green leaves, and a single breath was wonderfully refreshing.

Few people ever came to this spot, so she wouldn’t be disturbed.

Sophia decided to sit in the small pavilion, closing her eyes to take in the scents of nature.

As she drifted between sleep and wakefulness, the faint sound of high heels reached her ears.

By the time Sophia opened her eyes, the person was already before her, having moved like the wind.

"You bitch!"

A powerful slap, carrying all of Joanna Sherman’s hatred, flew toward Sophia’s face.

Sophia instinctively tilted her head to the left, and Joanna’s hand met empty air.

Her right hand followed up, swinging for another slap.

Sophia blocked the blow with her arm. This time, she didn’t bother holding back and swung her other hand at Joanna’s face.

SLAP.

The force of it left Joanna Sherman stunned on the spot.

It took her a moment to realize she had been hit. Clutching her cheek, she glared viciously at Sophia. "You bitch, you dare hit me!"

She looked ready to eat her alive.

Sophia watched her coolly, the tear-drop mole beneath her eye seeming to curve in a mocking arc. "Do you know why I can react so quickly? It’s all thanks to the training I got from those bullies you sent after me."

Sophia savored the rare opportunity to see Joanna Sherman so flustered. "What’s wrong? Can’t handle a tiny bit of humiliation?"

"But I have to say, you looked quite fetching as a clown just now."

"AHH!" Joanna shrieked.

’What just happened was the greatest humiliation of her life, and this woman dared to bring it up!’

Joanna swung another frantic slap.

SLAP!

But she was the one who got hit again.

Sophia was always one step ahead, her hands moving like lightning!

Back when she was the one getting beaten, she knew she couldn’t win, so she constantly practiced ways to escape.

At first, their fists landed solidly on her body and face.

Later, she learned how to dodge, and they had fewer and fewer opportunities to hit her in vital areas.

A bully is never as sharp as their victim, especially since Joanna was just the mastermind who usually just watched as Sophia was beaten.

Two solid slaps landed squarely on her face, one on each cheek.

Deep, red finger marks quickly appeared on both sides of her face.

Joanna’s face was numb with pain. Her eyes were wild, murderous.

"You bastard! You bitch!"

Sophia mimicked the way Joanna used to be, simply watching her in silence.

Reflected in her pupils was the image of Joanna, hair disheveled, looking like a madwoman.

She sneered, "You were always a shrew. Why pretend to be some untouchable, pure-as-snow flower?"

"I just beat your true self out into the open!"

Joanna was speechless.

’Sophia was usually so quiet; she’d figured the woman was too timid to even fart.’

’Turns out she had quite a sharp tongue.’

The insults stoked Joanna’s hatred into a continuous flame that felt like it would burn her very bones.

’She was a supreme queen; even Vincent Grant had to yield to her.’

’How dare Sophia Shaw.’

’How dare she!’

Refusing to admit defeat, Joanna leaped up and swung at her again.

Sophia grabbed her wrist and went to slap her for a third time.

But suddenly, her wrist was caught in midair.

Vincent Grant’s face appeared before her, his anger barely concealed.

"Sophia Shaw! Are you insane?!"

Vincent’s intervention gave Joanna an opening. SLAP. A palm landed squarely on her face.

Joanna had put all her strength into that slap, knocking Sophia’s head to the side.

She saw stars.

Furious, Sophia tried to pull away from Vincent.

But Vincent grabbed her other hand as well, restraining it.

SLAP!

Joanna seized the opportunity to land another slap.

"Vincent Grant!"

Sophia glared at Vincent, the pain on her face nothing compared to the agony twisting in her heart.

Vincent’s blatant favoritism was like a blade splitting her in two!

A deep, thick hatred surfaced in Sophia’s eyes!

Consumed by hatred, she cast aside her fear of him and drove her knee up between his legs.

Vincent reacted quickly, twisting his body to avoid the blow.

Sophia was free.

And she’d taken two slaps.

Joanna reined in her crazed behavior, once again becoming that lofty, aloof ice lotus. "I slapped you twice only because you hit me first!"

"I may not like to argue with you, but I won’t let you bully me!"

So high and mighty.

So open and honorable.

Sophia’s lips trembled violently.

’Bully?’

’She makes it sound so pitiful.’

Her fists were clenched so tight that her whole body trembled.

Joanna elegantly smoothed her hair. Facing Vincent Grant, she deliberately put on a display of aggrieved stubbornness. "You should have a good talk with your wife. Tell her to stop going crazy and dragging me into things."

Her voice was trembling and pitiful; any man would have sympathized with her supposed strength and forbearance.

Vincent grunted in acknowledgment and called Jack Holloway. "Come pick up Ms. Sherman. Don’t let anyone see her face."

Jack Holloway hurried over.

He was startled by the scene before him.

He immediately took the jacket hanging on his arm and draped it over Joanna Sherman’s head.

He then supported her as they quickly left.

Vincent was only wearing a vest and a shirt. That jacket was his.

It wasn’t the first time she had seen Vincent dote on Joanna. She thought her heart had long grown numb to the pain.

But after what had just happened, it felt as if a saw had suddenly appeared in her chest.

It was sawing back and forth, horizontally and vertically, threatening to tear her ribcage to shreds.

It was painful, suffocating!

’It was her own fault for being so pathetic.’

’She just had to compensate him back then!’

’She just had to marry him to save his company!’

’She had brought this humiliation upon herself!’

’Never again...’

Without saying a word, Sophia turned to leave.

Vincent grabbed her arm. "Sophia Shaw, we haven’t sorted this out. Where do you think you’re going?"

"What do you want to hear?" Sophia looked at him, the vermilion tear-drop mole beneath her eye seeming to brim with desolation and powerlessness.

"Do you want to hear me describe how you held me down for your goddess so she could have her revenge and hit me?"

Vincent’s gaze fell on her tear-drop mole, and a strange pang of pain shot through his chest.

But he didn’t let go.

Her words made him deeply uncomfortable. "You hit her first!"

"Sophia Shaw, the one who starts the fight has no right to feel wronged!"

"Hah!"

’It wasn’t that she had no right because she started it; it was that she never had any right to begin with.’

’Vincent Grant had been blind for a long time.’

’In his heart, no matter how Joanna Sherman hurt her, it was normal.’

’But if she so much as resisted to protect herself, it was wrong!’

"Vincent Grant!"

Sophia called his name, her voice filled with sorrow.

"I regret it."

’If she could go back in time, she wouldn’t have cared if a sex scandal turned Vincent Grant into a beggar or sent him to prison!’

’Giving up a great career, wasting the best years of her life—all for what? A joke!’

’A colossal joke!’