“Exactly! These kinds of people ruin lives for money!” someone yelled.
“Even if that scammer’s already dead, her family’s still here! They should pay for what she did!” another one shouted.
“They all deserve to rot in jail!”
The air was hot and ugly, filled with the smell of sweat, phones raised high to catch every second of my humiliation.
And right in the middle of it? Victor.
He stood there, calm and proud, soaking in every camera flash like it was applause. That twisted little smile on his face said everything. This wasn’t justice for him. It was a show. His show.
I’d seen him win cases before, but never like this. Never with this much hunger in his eyes. It wasn’t about the truth anymore.... it was about Ivy, about proving he was her hero. He’d forgotten why he became a lawyer. Forgotten what it meant to fight for what’s right.
He just wanted me gone. And he wanted the woman he loved to look innocent.
Beside me, my grandma’s face turned pale. Her hands trembled as she grabbed his sleeve. “Victor,” she said, voice shaking, “how can you talk like that? You’re lying. You know what really happened. You think your grandmother would be proud if she saw this?”
He yanked his arm away. “Don’t you dare use my mother to guilt-trip me!” he snapped. “She’s not here, and even if she was, she’d understand the truth. So stop defending Marielle. You’re only embarrassing yourself.”
My grandma flinched, her hand falling back to her side.
He looked at me then, chin high, voice booming for the crowd. “I’m divorcing Marielle. I’m done with her lies, her drama, her obsession with dragging innocent people down. I’m a lawyer and I stand for fairness and truth. The truth is, she refuses to move on because she wants money and attention. She’s been milking someone's death for sympathy long enough.”
He looked so sure, so self-righteous, that the crowd began clapping.
I stared at him for a long moment, my heart slowly breaking apart.
“Victor,” I said softly, “are you really okay with destroying a dead woman’s name just to protect the one who killed her?”
His eyes flashed cold. “I’m not destroying anyone,” he said. “I’m telling the truth. Something you clearly have no concept of.”
I nodded slowly. “Then keep telling your version of it,” I whispered. “I just hope one day you won’t regret what you said today.”
He gave a short, bitter laugh. “Regret? You think I’ll regret standing up for justice? You’re delusional, Marielle. The only ones who’ll regret anything are people like you... people who lie, who cheat, who manipulate sympathy to get money.”
He turned back to the cameras and jabbed a finger at me. “You all see her? She’s still trying to twist the story, make herself look like the victim. This—” he pointed to me like I was dirt “—is exactly what’s wrong with this world. No guilt. No shame. Just crocodile tears.”
The crowd murmured, agreeing, some even shouting things like, “You tell her, attorney!” and “Expose her!”
And then, right on cue, Ivy stepped forward with perfect timing, eyes red and watery. Her voice cracked just enough to sound real.
“Marielle,” she said softly, “you’ve always hated me. But I never imagined you’d go this far. You act like I killed someone on purpose.” She sniffled, letting her lips tremble. “But maybe… maybe you planned this all along, didn’t you? You and that two woman? You two set it up, but something went wrong, and they ended up dead. Is that it?”
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Even the livestreamers stopped talking for a beat.
Then she turned toward the cameras and said, “That must be why she’s been obsessed with me—why she won’t stop harassing me. Because she’s afraid the truth will come out.”
It was like she’d dropped a bomb.
Someone in the back shouted, “Yeah, that makes sense!”
Another one added, “She must’ve been part of it! Why else defend them?”
And just like that, the rumor became truth. The crowd’s anger reignited, louder than before, spinning faster, crueler.
Anna grabbed my arm and yelled over the noise, “Marielle! Don’t listen to them! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Her eyes were filled with tears and rage. “Victor, how can you let her say that? How can you just stand there while they tear your wife apart?!”
Victor didn’t even look at her.
Ivy pressed herself closer to him, whispering something I couldn’t hear. He nodded like she was the only voice that mattered.
I looked at the man I once trusted with everything: the man who’d sworn he’d protect me no matter what and realized he’d already buried me alive with his lies.
And this time, no one was coming to save me.
The next few minutes felt like hell.
The crowd kept chanting, throwing things. Rotten vegetables, eggs, even empty bottles. Some of them laughed when one hit my shoulder. My ears were ringing, and for a second, I couldn’t even tell if it was from fear or from the noise.
Then Anna screamed.
“Grandma!”
