"Exactly! The Gilbert family could crush you like an ant! You're acting high and mighty now, but you'll be on your knees begging soon enough!"
I shrugged, utterly unconcerned.
"Is that so? I have a feeling the one begging on their knees might be someone else entirely."
Elwin glared at me with fury blazing in his eyes, unable to fathom where my calm confidence came from.
A flicker of unease stirred in his chest—but Valerie's sobbing quickly drowned it out.
"Valerie, are you okay? Where does it hurt?"
Elwin could tolerate his own embarrassing fall.
But watching Valerie go down? That shattered him.
He scooped her up immediately, examining her for injuries with painstaking care. The tenderness in his eyes was unconcealed—the same tenderness I once knew so well.
But now, it no longer belonged to me.
Valerie clutched her scraped arm, crying harder than ever.
"Elwin, how dare she treat us like this?"
"It's bad enough she sold our company secrets, but now she's humiliating me too. If my parents found out..."
A vicious glint flashed through Elwin's eyes.
He turned on me, seething.