Chapter 535 Public Battle

When Lucy waited for some seconds, and Anita didn't sit, she shrugged dismissively and went on as she faced her audience, "Yes, it is true that Anita dated Tom before me," Lucy admitted and waited for the ladies to silently judge her with their eyes as she knew they would.

"It is also true that I pretended to be her friend. I never cared about being friends with her. There wasn't a single thing I liked about her," Lucy said with a careless tone she could only have gotten from Sonia.

"What is not true, however, is that I snatched her man. At the time I approached her, Tom here was pretending to be my driver. He even moved into the apartment next to mine just so he could be close to me," Lucy said smugly. The women exchanged a look amongst themselves, each wondering why they had forgotten that vital part of the interview when Tom and Lucy had talked about meeting at a club.

"I never knew of her existence, and that is because she and Tom had already broken up. Oh, have I mentioned that they both broke up because she thought he was a handyman and treated him like he was nothing without knowing he was actually Thomas Hank? She," Lucy said, and everyone started murmuring amongst themselves while Tiffany bowed her head.

Anita lifted her chin, "That is..."

"Shut it! You don't get to talk now. We asked you to speak, but you refused, so you only get to listen now," Jade snapped at her.

"Thanks to Anita, I met Tom for the first time at the club they were supposed to meet, but she failed to show up because she was not interested in dating a nobody. I only found out about that much later and..."

"You have...."

"Not another word, Anita. Not a single word. Do not interrupt me," Lucy warned as she rose from her seat to face Anita.

"At the time I met Tom, I was not interested in a relationship. And that was a fact I made clear even to you, yet you tried to set me up with him thinking he was my driver. I admit that at some point, I too was foolish enough to try to hook you up with him because I thought maybe Tom was interested in you, and I wanted him to stop bugging me. However, that was only until he told me how you used to be his girlfriend. The man I fell in love with was Tom, my driver. And that was before I ever knew he was the CEO. So who exactly did I snatch from you, Anita? Thomas Hank, the CEO, or the handyman, Tom?" Lucy asked calmly, but Anita said nothing, and everyone began to murmur and make side comments.

"What? Cat got your tongue? You can't answer the question?" the lady who had offered Aurora the money asked Anita harshly.

"Stay out of this," Lucy hissed at the lady. She was doing this to get square with Anita and not because she wanted anyone to take her side.

"Go on. I'm waiting for you to counter one thing I've said, you filthy gold-digger!"

Seeing that she was losing to Lucy, Anita decided to go all the way, "Golddigger? Pfft! I don't have to counter anything you said. It doesn't change anything. Just don't stand there sounding all self righteous and pretending like you didn't know who he was the whole time, you calculating murderer!" Anita hissed at her, and all the ladies looked at Anita, who had been acting all sweet and graceful earlier, in surprise.

With each word that left Anita's lips, Lucy felt the flames of anger igniting inside her. She remembered the scandal that had been engineered by Anita and how she had hidden herself to weep, how she had endured the whispers and hate speech. How even now, they were plotting to make sure she was absent from the anniversary and planning to tear her away from Tom's side.

"Why don't you say that one more time?" Lucy dared her.

"What? You can't?" Lucy asked, and Anita gave her a condescending look.

"Everyone heard me the first time. I said what I..."

Without waiting for her to complete her sentence, Lucy slapped her to shut her up making Anita fall back in surprise into her seat.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been wanting to hit you? Thanks for giving me a valid reason to do it publicly," Lucy said, feeling her whole body burn with anger and hatred for Anita as she longed to her again.

"Who do you think you are to spread such lies about me? Who do you think you are to call me a murderer? What gave you the boldness to release such details of my past to the world?" Lucy shrieked angrily, her whole body trembling with rage.

Everyone else watched in confusion, wondering what Lucy was talking about. Jade turned to Tom, wondering if it was okay for Lucy to reveal their knowledge of that detail to Anita yet.

For the first time, Anita looked stunned. She was surprised at the fact that Lucy knew what she had done. How did she know about it? If she had known why had she been silent this whole time? Why didn't either she or Tom confront her?

"Did you think I would never find out that you paid those people to release that horrible story about me?" Lucy asked when she saw the surprise on Anita's face, and all eyes turned to Anita in surprise.

"How long did you think I would be able to keep my calm after swallowing your nonsense for this long? You released that hateful news about me yet called to check on me, pretending to be my friend, and you had the guts to stand here and claim I pretended to be your friend? How dare you spread such hateful lies about me while I am under the same roof as you?" Lucy asked as she hit the other side of Anita's cheek angrily.

Although a part of Tiffany wanted to take her sister's side, she was too embarrassed by her to do so. She didn't want to be involved in Anita's mess. How could Anita have been careless enough to have allowed herself to be caught? Their mother was going to be very pissed if she heard all this.

Tiffany did not bother to take out her phone, which was vibrating in her handbag, since she suspected it was their mother calling to find out how everything was going. She couldn't tell her this now.

"You wanted my attention, now you have it. The battle between us was silent until now, but today you have made it public, and I hope you are ready for whatever I'm going to do. I intend to fight dirty going forward. I will stoop as low as you and even go lower than you if I have to, but I will make sure I drag you down to the very level a spineless swine like you belongs, and I will step all over you to climb back up. Tom is my man, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it!" Lucy promised, and without another word, she turned around and walked away from there, returning to the VIP room.

Seeing that Lucy was done, Tom stepped forward and faced the spa owner, "From this moment, I do not want any of these ladies on my property," Tom said and turned to Jade.

"Get their details from her. It should be sent to every I-Global establishment and property," Tom told Jade, and once she gave him a nod, he walked away, completely ignoring Anita.

"You are all so lucky that no harm came to either of them. You really should thank your stars," Evelyn hissed at them as she went in search of Tom and Lucy, leaving Jade alone with Aurora and Tracy, the spa owner.

Almost at once, all the ladies turned on each other, casting blames and yelling, and without uttering a word, Tiffany sneaked away from there, leaving a stunned Anita to follow suit if she wanted.

All the ladies snarled insults at Anita, calling her all manner of names, leaving the spa owner with no choice but to call security to escort them out.

Anita did her best to keep her head held high as she walked out of the spa without making eye contact with anyone. By the time she got to the parking lot, Tiffany had left already, so she boarded a cab.

After she got into the back seat of the cab and told the driver where she was headed, she let herself give in to the tears of humiliation, and she sobbed quietly until the car pulled to a stop in front of her house.

By the time she paid the driver and got out of the cab, her eyes was dry, and she was back to being Anita Miller again. Her mother did not raise her to be weak. She still had to pick up Lisa so they could head to Benny's house for the family lunch.