"You hit Assistant Weiss? You're begging to die!"
The others snapped out of their daze, staring in horror at the blood streaming down Toby's face.
"He's lost it. Completely lost it!"
"This ex-convict's got a death wish. Hitting Assistant Weiss? Is he insane?"
Every pair of eyes in the room looked at me like I was already a dead man.
I remained calm, my expression unchanged.
Toby's eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted into something savage. The look he gave me could have flayed me alive.
"Duke Gilbert, either you get on your knees and apologize, or you die!"
"Your choice!"
I let out a dry laugh.
"An apology? You're not worth one."
"Good. Good! Good!"
Toby spat the word three times, then yanked several thick bundles of cash from his wallet.
He slammed them onto the table with a sharp crack and turned to the security guards behind him:
"All of you, together. Beat him within an inch of his life. I'll triple this when it's done."
Their eyes lit up, every one of them itching to move.
Fists were already swinging toward me.
Then a woman's voice cut through the air from behind, laced with surprise and uncertainty:
"Duke?!"
I turned slowly, following the sound.
Fay Galloway stood there, watching me with an unreadable expression.
"Where have you been all these years? Why didn't you come find me after you got out?"
Compared to Fay's agitation,
my face was perfectly still. Not a flicker of emotion in my eyes.
Looking at the woman I'd once loved with every fiber of my being, I felt nothing. My heart was as flat and quiet as a dead lake.
"Where I've been is none of your concern, Ms. Galloway."
Ms. Galloway. Distant. Unfamiliar.
Fay's composure crumbled in an instant, her eyes rimming red.
A flash of jealous hatred darted through Toby's gaze.
"Ugh..."
Toby let out a pained groan.
"What's wrong?"
Fay snapped back to the present, turning to Toby with alarm.
The moment she saw the blood on his face, her expression shifted:
"How did you get hurt? Who did this?"
Toby immediately put on a wounded, pitiful look.
"Babe, thank God you're here. I hadn't seen Duke in years, so I invited him to dinner out of the goodness of my heart. He didn't just refuse my kindness, he punched me."
His eyes reddened, brimming with the performance of a man deeply wronged.
A complete transformation from the swaggering bully he'd been seconds ago.
The restaurant manager scrambled forward: