“You really intend to leave me, huh?” Victor’s voice cut through the room, low and hard. “Fine. You want this divorce? You’ll have it—but don’t expect to walk away unscathed, Marielle.”
He took a step closer, jabbing a finger toward my face. “When we sign the papers, I write the terms. You won’t get a cent. Not a single scrap of dignity. You’ll walk out of my life the same way you came in: weak, empty-handed, pathetic.”
His eyes burned with rage, venom dripping from every word. “And don’t think I won’t make the world see who you really are. I’ll expose you. I’ll tell everyone you exploited your so-called grandmother and sister’s deaths for money. That you filed fake cases just to squeeze compensation out of people. My family will see the monster they treated like a daughter.”
The torn divorce papers fluttered like ashes in the air. Among the drifting pieces, I caught a glimpse of Ivy. She lingered behind him, feigning fear, but the tiny smirk at the corner of her lips gave her away. She was loving every second.
I didn’t respond. Words had lost all meaning. I turned and walked out, leaving him behind with his perfect little accomplice.
---
Back home, silence swallowed me whole. I packed my clothes methodically, folding each piece into a small suitcase, forcing myself to move past the photos, the memories, the echoes of laughter that now felt like knives in my chest. I just wanted out.
I’d barely reached the bottom of the stairs when the noise outside hit me.
People were running toward me, a swarm, snarling like wolves.
Phones, cameras, microphones—all aimed at me.
“There she is!” a woman screamed. “The woman who faked her grandmother and sister’s accident to steal money!”
Another voice shouted from further back. “Even when they really died, she still tried to milk cash! Who does that?”
“Didn’t she push that poor girl, Ivy, into depression? I heard she tried to end her life because of her!”
“And thank God her husband’s a decent man—a real lawyer who stood for truth, not that greedy woman! He’s the reason justice prevailed!”
Laughter, shouting, cameras flashing.
And there they were—Victor and Ivy, at the back, watching, smiling.
It hit me then. Every bit of this—cameras, the crowd, the live stream—it had been planned. Humiliation, public destruction… orchestrated by him.
And it worked.
Within hours, the videos were everywhere. My face splashed across every screen. Comments rolled in, endless and merciless:
“What kind of woman uses her family’s death for cash?”
“No wonder her grandma died early! Karma caught up with her bloodline!”
“She’s disgusting. She shouldn’t exist!”
“The car hit the right people this time.”
Thousands of strangers, all shouting names: “Scammer! Liar! Heartless! Trash!”
Those words followed me everywhere. On screens. In whispers. In the air I breathed.
That day, I didn’t just lose my husband.
I lost my name.
I lost myself.
The crowd surged, throwing rotten vegetables, eggs, even bottles. The stench of spoiled food mixed with hate was suffocating. Someone screamed “Murderer!” another shouted “Homewrecker!”—and none of them had a clue what actually happened.
I could’ve turned back. I should’ve. But I didn’t.
I walked through it all—trash clinging to my shoes, yolk dripping down my sleeve—straight to Victor.
“Victor,” I said quietly, voice trembling, “do you really need to humiliate me like this? In front of everyone?”
He looked annoyed. Ivy stepped forward before he could answer.
“Marielle…” she sniffled, clutching her chest, tiny, fragile. “I know you’re hurting after… after Grandma and my accident, but please… stop blaming me. I didn’t mean it. I see their faces every night… I can’t sleep. Please… don’t make it worse.”
And of course, Victor swallowed it whole.
He pulled her close, rubbing her shoulder. “Ivy, don’t cry. You did nothing wrong. I’ll take care of this.” Then his eyes snapped to mine, cold and sharp. “Marielle, you’ve gone too far. Throwing lawsuits and tantrums won’t bring them back. They ran into her car, not the other way around. Stop using their deaths as an excuse to play the victim.”
I barely breathed. “You’re defending her?”
Victor scoffed. “She’s trying to live her life. Something you never managed without drama. You’re bitter, Marielle. Bitter she’s younger. Bitter she makes me happy. Bitter she didn’t waste her life like you did.”
I laughed, broken and hollow. “Happy?” I whispered. “You call this happiness? Do you think Grandma—”
“Your grandmother and sister are gone, Marielle. Move on.”
Before I could even react, a sharp voice rang from the crowd.
“Who do you call dead?”
