But no one believed me.
"Your own boyfriend came out and exposed you! You definitely did it!"
"Do you have any proof you're innocent? Didn't think so! Die, you worthless slut!"
With trembling hands, I forwarded the post to Benjamin.
"Why are you smearing me like this?"
His reply came fast:
"Didn't I tell you yesterday to smooth things over with the university administration for me? You just walked out without a care, and now I've been called in for accountability. This was the only way I could think of to clear things up."
"Besides, everyone was dragging Elise online, calling her a homewrecking tramp. She cried so hard yesterday she nearly passed out. This protects her reputation too."
"What about ME?! I deserve to be the one getting torn apart?"
"Maud, it's just a few nasty comments from strangers. Just don't look at it. Give it some time and people will forget. It'll blow over."
"Oh, and the wedding starts in an hour. Elise's and mine. Hurry up and come be the bridesmaid. Apologize to Elise in front of everyone. If we're putting on a show, we need to commit to the whole act."
Then, in a tone that was neither gentle nor harsh, he added:
"Be a good girl. If you keep throwing tantrums, I can't guarantee I'll still marry you and file the paperwork in three years. Remember, your mother is gone. I'm the only family you have left in this world."
My entire body shook with rage.
Once, at my mother's bedside, he had held my hand and sworn he would be my last remaining family, that he would take care of me for the rest of my life.
Now, my loneliness and helplessness had become the very reason he felt free to trample all over me.
Tears were still sliding down my cheeks when my phone buzzed with a new message.
"Miss Fox, there's something I'm not sure I should tell you."
"I have the surveillance footage from the day Elise's incident happened... I think you deserve to know what really went on that day..."
I stared at the video that loaded on my screen, and my body went rigid.
One month ago. Graduation day.
Elise was supposed to be onstage for the tassel-turning ceremony, but she and Benjamin had both vanished.
As the lab's sponsor, I followed the university staff backstage to look for them.
That was when we walked right into Benjamin, rushing out with an unconscious Elise in his arms.
We followed them to the hospital, where the doctor gave us a strange look and said, "Young people chasing thrills still need to be careful."
Only then did we learn the truth: Elise and someone had been fooling around in a storage room full of high-powered stage lights. The door had locked behind them, and they'd been baking inside for a full three hours until she collapsed from dehydration.
The campus erupted. University leadership issued an immediate order to expel Elise.
When she came to, she sobbed and screamed that she'd been assaulted, that her attacker had already fled.
The university pulled the surveillance footage, but the recordings had been deleted.
When they pressed her for details, she refused to talk and threatened to throw herself off a building.
Benjamin also threatened to pull his research funding, pressuring the administration to drop the investigation and bury the whole thing.
I couldn't understand it. Again and again, I tried to get justice for Elise.
But every single time, Benjamin shut me down with that sharp, scolding tone of his.
"Stop making trouble! Digging into this isn't helping her. You're only forcing her to relive the trauma!"
Now, watching the footage on my screen, watching Benjamin tangled up with Elise, the two of them so desperate they nearly broke down the equipment room door, the pain that tore through my chest was beyond anything I could control.
So it was true. Exactly what I had suspected all along.
Elise had never been assaulted. She had been cheating with him.
I dragged the video's progress bar forward, and something unbelievable appeared on the screen.
My pupils blew wide.
