Page 95 of Billionaire’s Cruelty

A sudden, urgent knock on the door stopped me.

June tensed in my arms. “Did you leave anyone behind?”

“It can’t be Clare, right? I thought she came in.” I tried to recall, but my attention had been on June—and briefly on thanking Andy for looking after her.

I stood frozen in the doorway, still holding June. I wanted to open the door, but I didn’t want to put her down.

“I got it.”

Andy moved past me and pulled the door open.

“Biaozi.”

Bitch.

I stared in shock. My mother’s voice. Her words.

“Mama?”

She practically stormed inside the room, her face twisted with fury. Before I could react, she grabbed June by the hair and wrenched her out of my arms.

Lucy followed close behind, tears streaming down her face.

June shoved my mother off. My mother retaliated, shoving back—once, twice—until June lost her balance and fell hard onto the floor.

Without thinking, I rushed to her side, reaching for her.

“Why wouldn’t you help your own mother?” My mother shrieked in Shanghainese.

The last time I checked, she was still standing. June was the one on the ground. Had karma finally made my mother lose her footing?

Lucy hurried to help my mother.

“You gave up a girl like Lucy for an American whore like her?”

My head spun. What the hell was happening?

“What’s going on?” June clung to me, her voice shaken.

“You’re a whore.” My mother lunged again, reaching past me. I did everything I could to shield June, but my mother still managed to strike her.

With one hand, I grabbed hold of my mother’s shoulder while turning to check on June. Tears streaked her face. Her left hand clutched her cheek—red, angry, burning.

The room had filled.

Wendy. Trevon. Clare. All watching.

“Clare, hold my mother down.”

“But, sir…” Clare hesitated. I knew she saw my mother as her real boss.

“Do it or get the fuck out.”

Thankfully, she obeyed without further protest.

I exhaled sharply, switching to English. “Calm down, Mother.”

I knew full well my Oxford-educated mother understood every word.