Bertram delivered his ultimatum. "Philippa Sullivan, the people have spoken loud and clear."
"Sign this penalty agreement today, hand back the money, and I might still let you walk out of here in one piece."
"If you refuse, I'm calling the police. Extortion and embezzlement. That kind of record follows you for life. What company would ever touch you after that?"
I looked around this office, at this company I had built with my own two hands, and let out a cold laugh. "Fine. You're all just wonderful."
"I'm not paying back a single cent. Go ahead and call the police."
I snatched the agreement off the table, ripped it to shreds, and hurled the pieces straight into Bertram's face. Then I turned and headed for the door.
I was done playing servant. With my abilities, I could make eight million anywhere.
"Leaving? Not so fast." Tamara's eyes turned venomous in an instant. She snapped her fingers, the sound crisp and sharp.
Four or five hulking men burst into the room and locked the door behind them.
I tried to force my way through. I'd barely reached the doorway when two massive bodyguards shoved me hard.
I stumbled and crashed to the floor. My forehead struck the sharp corner of the coffee table, and something warm immediately trickled down my temple.
"Let go of me!" I struggled to get back up.
But Tamara walked over to me.
She pulled out her phone, unhurried, and dialed a video call. Then she shoved the screen in my face.
"Recognize this place?"
One glance was all it took. Every drop of blood in my body went cold.
On the screen was the nursing home where my grandmother lived.
Inside the ICU, several men were roughly shoving nurses aside. One of them already had his hand on the ventilator tube keeping my grandmother alive.
She was unconscious, but her brow was furrowed tight, as if she were enduring tremendous pain.
"Stop it! Don't touch her!" I thrashed and fought, but the bodyguards pinned me to the floor.
"Tamara Cooley, if you lay a finger on my grandmother, I will kill you!"
Crack. Tamara's palm connected with my face so hard my ears rang and my vision blurred.
"Shut your mouth, you worthless tramp." She grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my eyes back to the screen.
"Here's something you didn't know. Just yesterday, I used the money you earned to buy that nursing home."
"Your grandmother's life is in my hands now. The second I say pull the plug, they pull it."