Mistaken for a Mistress, Avenged by Her CEO Brother

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I'd come to the dealership's flagship store to pick up my new car, and the second I stepped through the entrance, the automatic door clamped down on my foot.

Figuring the sensor had probably just glitched, I didn't want it ruining my good mood today, so I let it go.

I'd barely taken a few steps when a short-haired saleswoman came rushing over to me.

"Excuse me, miss, you kicked our store door and broke it! You'll need to pay for the damages!"

I turned to look. Somehow the automatic door had become a scatter of glass shards all over the floor.

The whole thing baffled me. "That door was already broken. It just caught my foot on the way in."

A male salesman walked over, glanced at my foot, and let out a soft, mocking laugh.

"If you hadn't kicked our door, it wouldn't be broken, and it sure wouldn't have caught your foot! Looks to me like you're trying to weasel out of paying!"

"Let me tell you something. If this blows up, everyone's going to find out you're Manager Lawrence's kept woman! And his wife is not someone to mess with!"

There wasn't a soul in Crestwood City who'd dare keep me. Anyone who even got the idea would've had his legs broken by my sister-obsessed brother long ago.

I had no idea who my brother had hired to staff this place. They couldn't even bother to vet people's character.

I sat down on the couch and folded my arms across my chest.

"No proof, so you just frame me and spread lies? You let any random riffraff in off the street? The two of you can pack up and get out together!"

The male salesman, whose badge read Victor Walker, looked me over with contempt in his eyes.

"Oh ho! Big talk from you! Walk in here with a designer bag and suddenly you think you're some rich family's young lady?"

"Everybody knows that bag on your arm got handed to you because you served Manager Lawrence so well that you begged him on your knees for it!"

"You really think you're somebody? If you were actually some rich family's daughter, you wouldn't be unable to even pay for our store door!"

He'd deliberately raised his voice.

The shoppers in the store heard the commotion and turned to look, curious.

I was honestly stumped.

I'd come here today to pick up the birthday gift my brother had ordered for me.

The dealership near our place didn't carry that limited-edition model, so I'd gone out of my way to come across town to this flagship store.

This was my first time at the flagship. These two clearly didn't recognize me, right?

So how could they just smear me as their manager's kept woman out of thin air?

I couldn't let them get to me, and I definitely couldn't let them control the narrative.

I worked to settle the agitation rising in me.

"If you think I broke the door, then go pull up the security footage. Your store cameras can't all be broken, can they?"

"If I really broke it, I'll pay. But if the footage proves I didn't, then you two will apologize to me for slandering me and spreading lies!"

Victor gave a contemptuous little snort. "You want me to apologize to you? You think you're worth it?"

It was as though he hadn't heard a word I said about checking the cameras.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened a livestream, and aimed the lens at my face.

"Everyone, come take a look! This woman here is something else. She kicked our store door and broke it, and now she's making excuses and refusing to pay!"

"She just threatened me too, said if I didn't get on my knees and apologize, she'd have me killed! Today I'm going to expose her if it kills me, this kind of woman who just lies back, spreads her legs, and milks her sugar daddy for money!"

"The public can see clearly! Right and wrong are plain as day, and justice is definitely going to be on my side!"

The lens stayed shoved right in my face.

It was the first time anyone had ever smeared me like this, and the feeling sat ugly in my chest.

From start to finish, he never once gave a straight answer to my question.

Instead, he deliberately blew up the whole topic of me being a kept woman who refused to pay.

The bystanders, who had no idea what was actually going on, got swept up by him too, and started buzzing with whispers about me.

What's going on here? What kept woman? Does anyone actually know?

From what I heard, this woman kicked the door and busted it, then refused to pay for it! And she got all high and mighty, demanding the salesman get down on his knees and apologize to her!

Wow! The nerve on her. She wrecks the store's door herself and then makes someone kneel and apologize to her?

A woman like that's been spoiled rotten by some sugar daddy. Thinks the whole world owes her!

Can't even cover the cost of one door. You can tell at a glance she's all show!

The ugly remarks bored into my ears one after another.

No wonder my right eye had been twitching when I left the house this morning.

I'd chalked it up to a bad night's sleep, but it turned out something big really was waiting for me.

Keeping my temper in check, I turned to him again.

I already told you, your store's automatic door caught my foot. The injury's still right there! And in the shoes I'm wearing today, there's no way I could've kicked that door hard enough to break it.

You don't have a shred of evidence that I broke the door, and you're whipping up the crowd to dodge the issue because you don't dare check the security footage!

If you ask me, you're the one who broke this door. You don't want to pay for it, so you're scrambling to find a scapegoat to foot the bill for you!

I had on a pair of strappy sandals today.

Anyone with eyes could see the spot the door had caught was already flushed red.

Hit right where it hurt, Victor's expression shifted ever so slightly.

That's a load of crap! Melanie Fernandez and I both watched you kick our store door and break it! We saw it with our own eyes. How could that be fake?

His voice had clearly lost the confidence it had a moment ago.

So, my guess had been right after all.

The short-haired saleswoman beside him, the one called Melanie, started inching toward me.

As she got close, she dumped the hot coffee she was holding all over me.

Then she ground her heel down hard on the top of the foot the door had crushed.

Quit the act, you fraud! Smearing a little blush on your foot and pretending you're hurt?

You'll dig up any excuse to weasel out of paying! I've never met anyone as shameless as you!

The sudden stab of pain on my foot made me shove her off on reflex.

I rubbed the top of my foot.

Thinking to myself that today was truly cursed, that I'd run into every kind of freak imaginable.

Two salespeople who were supposed to be looking after customers.

Instead, one had opened his mouth and spun filthy rumors about me, and the other had put her hands on me.

What kind of dealership was this? This was nothing short of bullying the customer outright.

Melanie let out a shriek and dropped to the floor.

All I did was call out your sleazy little scheme, and you turn around and hit me!

She jabbed her finger at me and screamed at the crowd around us.

Everybody, come look! Come be the judge of this. This fraud not only refuses to pay up, she's attacking people!

She's just one of our manager's toys, and look how brazen she is! Breaks something, won't pay for it, and hits people on top of it! There's no justice in the world!

Clutching my foot, I said, Watch your mouth! You came over and stomped on my foot, that's why I pushed you off! Don't go slandering me!

Victor rushed over in a panic and helped her up.

He asked her carefully whether she was hurt.

Seeing she was fine, he turned back around to warn me.

You break our store door and won't pay for it, and now you've put your hands on our staff! This is going too far!

You're nothing but one of Manager Lawrence's kept women! You really think you're someone?

What's this about my kept woman?

A man with a beer belly straining against his shirt came swaying over.

This had to be that Manager Lawrence.

Victor stammered, caught off guard.

Manager Lawrence.

He fumbled to shut off the livestream on his phone.

Jeffrey Lawrence looked around at everyone.

What's all this, the whole crowd of you making a scene here?

And another thing, what happened to our store's door? That door's imported, it's expensive. Whoever broke it pays for it!

Victor scurried over and recounted the whole thing from his own slanted point of view.

When he finished, he tacked on, "Manager Lawrence, this kept woman of yours has gotten way too full of herself. She wrecked the showroom door on purpose and won't pay for it."

"She also said you'd definitely cover for her. Said if you wouldn't take her side, she'd tell your wife everything about the two of you!"

"The way I see it, you've got plenty of kept women, plenty of girls lining up to be with you. No reason to keep a liability like her hanging around!"

Beside him, Melanie nodded along, eager to back up every word.

"Exactly! Manager Lawrence, a woman this entitled is nothing but trouble. She'll bring disaster down on you!"

Manager Lawrence furrowed his brow and dragged his gaze over me, up and down.

"Who's this? Don't know her. She's not one of mine."

Victor and Melanie's faces froze the instant they realized they'd pegged the wrong person.

Victor said, baffled, "Then who is she? That bag she's holding is the same one you gave one of your kept women!"

"Didn't you say one of them was coming in today? I just figured"

Manager Lawrence ignored the topic entirely and asked instead.

"Quit asking pointless questions. Didn't I tell you to roll out the red carpet for the VIP coming to pick up the Maserati today? Where is she?"

"When the VIP's happy, it's good for all of us! You're out here squabbling over some petty nonsense. What if you scare the VIP off? Can you afford to eat that loss?"

Victor lowered his head and didn't dare say a word.

Melanie offered an ingratiating smile. "It won't happen, Manager Lawrence. The VIP hasn't shown up yet."

"We'll get this place cleaned up right away and go welcome her."

Seeing there was no more drama to watch, the bystanders dispersed.

Manager Lawrence was their boss. I figured he'd be the one to clear up this misunderstanding.

That he'd make the two people who'd framed me on purpose apologize.

Just as he turned, hands clasped behind his back, to head back to his office.

I called out to stop him. "Manager Lawrence, I'm here to pick up the limited-edition Maserati I reserved two weeks ago. But before I take the car, there's something I need to say."

"Not long after I walked in today, these two salespeople of yours spread lies about me and physically attacked me. The security footage proves it. I want an apology and compensation from them!"

At my words, Victor's and Melanie's faces turned uglier still.

Manager Lawrence stopped walking and shot me a sidelong glance.

"Here to pick up the limited-edition Maserati? You're Mr. Henson's sister?"

I nodded.

I assumed that once he knew who I was, he'd surely speak up for me.

Instead, he said, "You wreck our showroom door, dress yourself up as one of my kept women, and now you're playing Mr. Henson's own little sister?"

"No offense, but you walk into a place like this and can't even cover the cost of the door? What's the point of all this pretending, picking one identity after another?"

"Nothing on you's worth a dime except that bag, and for all I know it's a knockoff. Someone who looks like you, affording a Maserati? Ha! Don't make people laugh themselves silly!"

Hearing all this, I frowned in confusion.

Me, pretending? Since when?

I hadn't pretended to be anyone from the very start.

There wasn't a single cheap item on me. Every piece was custom-made by private labels, the kind that simply never hit the open market.

I'd assumed that, as the manager, he'd be a reasonable man.

It turned out he was just as quick to judge people by their looks, two of a kind with those other two.

Manager Lawrence sneered, raking a contemptuous gaze over me from head to toe.

"I've been wanting to say this for a while. Flat in front, flat in back, that pathetic. I'd never take a piece of merchandise like that as one of my kept women."

"Victor, next time you go calling someone my kept woman, remember my taste. I like them curvy front and back. This kind of low quality just won't do."

"Besides, Mr. Henson absolutely dotes on that little sister of his. Wherever she goes, he follows. There's no way she'd ever show up here alone!"

He let out two smug little chuckles.

Victor nodded along beside him. "Right, right, right. Trash like her isn't fit to stand near our great Manager Lawrence!"

The man could really lay it on thick.

My brother was the ultimate doting big brother. He came with me everywhere I went, terrified something might happen to me.

But today something urgent had come up at the company and he couldn't get away.

He'd wanted to just have the new car delivered straight to our door.

I was the one who'd wanted to get out for a bit, who'd pictured picking up the car and driving it over to the office to surprise him.

I never imagined that the moment I walked in, something this absurd would happen.

Melanie shoved me from the side.

"When our manager speaks, you answer him! Did you hear what he just said or not?"

"The doors at our store are imported! You have to pay for the damage, or you're not getting out of here!"

Manager Lawrence gave me one flat glance and waved a careless hand as he strolled toward his office.

"Too many eyes around here. Whatever it takes, just settle it fast. The big VIP is going to show up any minute now."

Victor's smile turned sly as he and Melanie hauled me by force into the storage room in the back.

They were both bigger and stronger than me. I struggled forever and didn't stand a chance against them.

Once we were in the storage room, Victor brought the bill right up to my face.

"Two hundred and twenty thousand dollars in damages. If that money doesn't hit our account, forget buying a caryou'll have a hard time even walking out that door!"

Melanie snatched my purse while I wasn't looking.

She dug through it forever, took all my cash and my phone, then pulled out one of my cards.

Victor ran the card through the POS machine.

"Hurry up and enter the PIN. Don't keep me from greeting our VIP."

With Manager Lawrence's blessing, the two of them turned even more vicious, determined to force the payment out of me.

I fought back again, trying to break free and run, and Victor kicked me to the floor.

Melanie grabbed a fistful of my hair and shoved my head down toward the POS machine.

"Enter the PIN, now. Are you deaf?"

My forehead slammed against it again and again until the pain had tears streaming down my face.

In all my life, no one had ever treated me like this.

I clenched my teeth. "You'll be finished if my brother finds out you dared to do this to me."

What I got in return were two slaps from Melanie, delivered with everything she had.

"Where do you get off running your mouth? Enter the PIN! Our time is precious!"

My head was ringing from the blows, and through the haze I heard my brother's voice.