Chapter 2

"What's going on here? What happened? Please maintain order..."

His words abruptly jammed in his throat the moment his eyes landed on the glamorous woman. An instant, sycophantic smile plastered across his face.

"M-Miss Lee! What are you doing here? Did you run into some trouble?"

Seeing the manager, the woman treated him like a house servant, lifting her chin even higher.

"Manager Zhang, you got here just in time! These two crazy old hags came out of nowhere, causing a scene and daring to pose as Mr. Vance's mother and wife! Kick them out immediately! They're an eyesore!"

Hearing this, Manager Zhang’s expression hardened. He turned to us, his eyes sharp and impatient.

"You two, please leave immediately. Do not make trouble here and disrupt the other visitors. Otherwise, I will have security forcefully remove you."

My mother-in-law trembled with fury, pointing right at him. "You! As a manager, without even asking what happened, you blindly take her word for it?! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

A faint, barely concealed contempt crossed Zhang’s face.

"Ma'am, while I haven't seen the old Mrs. Vance many times, she certainly doesn't dress like that. Miss Lee is a distinguished VIP whom Mr. Vance specifically instructed us to treat with the utmost care. Please don't make this difficult for us."

"VIP?"

I caught the key term, and a chilling numbness spread through my chest.

Julian had actually flaunted the existence of his mistress so openly to his subordinates?

I held back my mother-in-law’s trembling arm and took a step forward, sweeping a cold gaze over Zhang and Miss Lee.

"Manager Zhang, is it? You're saying that because she's a VIP, everything she says is gospel, while what we say is just making trouble? Is this how Vance Enterprises treats its guests?"

My voice was crisp and icy, carrying an unmistakable authority.

Caught off guard by my composed counter-question, Zhang was left tongue-tied for a moment.

The woman, however, lost her patience. "Why are you wasting your breath on them?! Manager Zhang, call security right now!"

"I dare anyone to try!"

My mother-in-law, who had been suppressing her fury all along, finally exploded with the sheer authority belonging to the matriarch of the Vance family.

She didn't spare another glance at the clownish Miss Lee. Instead, she locked eyes with Zhang, enunciating every syllable:

"You call Julian right now. Put it on speaker! I want to ask him myself when this aquarium became a place where some nameless tramp gets to boss people around! I want to ask him if his own mother and his lawfully wedded wife can be kicked out of a Vance property just because this woman said so!"

Her aura was suffocatingly powerful. Zhang was completely intimidated, a flicker of panic darting across his face.

Seeing Zhang hesitate, the woman grew hysterical with anger: "Call him! Julian is at the office in a meeting right now. Do you think I'm scared of you? Manager Zhang, call him! Let these two frauds give up for good!"

Under the watchful eyes of the entire crowd, Zhang’s hands trembled as he dialed the number saved as "Mr. Vance."