Chapter 4

I turned my head, momentarily stunned.

Standing there was my mentor, Peter Vance—the head of flight operations.

Ignoring the champagne dripping down my face, I straightened up.

"Mr. Vance, what brings you here?"

Peter was the person I respected most at the company. When I first joined the operations center, he was the one who trained me step by step.

To me, he was both a mentor and a father figure.

Peter gently patted my arm, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I heard one of the junior crew members was celebrating a birthday, so I stopped by to offer my congratulations."

"I didn't expect..."

His gaze drifted to the scattered complaint files and Summer's venomous expression. His brow furrowed deeply.

Summer immediately threw herself toward him, bursting into tears.

"Mr. Vance, you have to stand up for me! This woman is using her seniority to bully me!"

Peter was well known for being fiercely protective of younger crew members.

"Brooke, what on earth is going on? Even if you have personal differences, you shouldn't cause a scene at someone's birthday party."

Before I could even speak, Summer launched into her accusations.

"Mr. Vance, she's a lunatic! She has a crush on my husband, so she crashed my party to throw a tantrum! She even forged fake violation reports to slander me!"

The surrounding colleagues immediately jumped in, twisting the truth to back her up.

Listening to them, disappointment settled over Peter's face.

"Brooke, you're a core pillar of our operations. You're supposed to set an example for the younger crew. How could you behave with such a lack of decency?"

"Apologize to her right now, pack up this mess, and leave."

A chill swept through my chest.

Even the mentor I respected most had chosen to believe the seemingly fragile Summer without bothering to look into the facts.

Emboldened, Summer snatched an empty champagne bottle from a nearby table and smashed it straight over my head.

"Ruining someone else's happiness earns you a special place in hell, Brooke! Didn't your parents teach you that?"

"I'm already three months pregnant with Austin's baby! It's too late for you to try and climb into his bed now!"

Summer and a couple of coworkers grabbed me, trying to shove my head down onto the floor.

A shard of broken glass slashed across my cheek, sending a sharp sting through my skin.

Instead of crying, I suddenly burst out laughing.

Pregnant?

She actually claimed she was pregnant?

I pulled out my phone, ignoring the sting of blood running down my face, and sent a single text to Uncle Arthur.

Summer froze, unnerved by my laughter. I used the opening to shove her off and pulled myself up.

I looked around at every single person in the room, my eyes finally settling on Summer's flat stomach.

"Since you want this baby so badly... and you're so desperate to be Mrs. Miller..."

"Then let me give you one more gift."

Summer's expression shifted nervously.

"What cheap trick are you pulling now?"

A few seconds later, the massive LED screen at the front of the banquet hall flickered to life.

The moment Summer saw what appeared on it, all the color drained from her face.

And right at that moment, Austin burst through the double doors—only to freeze dead in his tracks as his eyes hit the screen.