「Kicking my daughter out wasn't enough for you? Now you want to get rid of me too, cut me off from Murray for good. If I lose this job, my daughter and I will have nothing. You're trying to drive us into the ground!」
My heart hammered so hard it hurt. So Eleanor had been poisoning the neighbors against me for who knew how long.
「Fine. Now on top of replacing my phone, you can add slander to the list. I'm calling a lawyer and I'm pressing charges!」
The crowd kept growing. Even the building's property manager showed up.
I rushed over to the manager：「Please call the police for me! These two destroyed my property and they're spreading lies about me!」
「Go ahead and call, Sophia! I'm not scared of you! You stole my daughter's boyfriend and that's a fact. You beat me, cursed me out, and tried to shake me down for fifty thousand dollars, and that's a fact too!」
She yanked her collar down：「Look, everyone! She did this to me!」
There were several long scratches across the skin below her collarbone, raw and bloody.
She'd kept them hidden under her shirt the whole time. I hadn't noticed.
「Eleanor, I don't know where you got those scratches, but you're not pinning them on me! Fine. When the police get here, we'll settle all of it.」
Eleanor's daughter Meg pulled out her phone and pointed the camera straight at my face.
「Is there any justice left in this world? This homewrecker stole my boyfriend, beat and humiliated my mother, and now she's demanding fifty thousand dollars from us!」
「We're just two ordinary people from a small town. She's trying to destroy us!」
Others raised their phones too, shoving them so close I could feel the screens inches from my face.
The police arrived just in time to push the crowd back.
Before I could say a single word to the officers, Eleanor shoved her way to the front.
「Officer, my employer assaulted me! I need a medical examination!」
She bared the scratches on her neck.
「She did all of this. She even kicked me in the stomach. I'm still in so much pain I can barely stand. I need this documented!」
「And she called me every filthy name you can imagine. She said my daughter doesn't even know who her own father is, said we were both prostitutes! My daughter has been harassed and bullied because of those lies. The damage she's caused us is beyond anything you can measure!」
「And on top of that, she tried to extort us. One broken phone and she demanded fifty thousand dollars!」
I stood there, stunned. Eleanor didn't so much as blink between lies.
The old women in the crowd got louder.
「Look at her! Shameless AND vicious!」
「What kind of person does something like that? No home training whatsoever. God knows what her parents are like.」
「Probably trash themselves. How else would they raise a daughter this low?」
I was shaking with rage.
「Say whatever you want about me, but leave my parents out of it!」
The officer turned to me：「Is what she's claiming true?」
「It's all lies! Every word! I never said any of that and I never laid a hand on her! I was firing her, and she brought her daughter back to my home and refused to leave!」
「She smashed my phone. All I asked was that she pay for the replacement. I never asked for fifty thousand dollars!」
「Do either of you have evidence or witnesses to back up your claims?」
「Officer, I don't have anyone to back me up, but everything I said is the truth!」
Eleanor didn't miss a beat：「Officer, every one of these neighbors can vouch for me!」
The old women all started talking at once.
「That's right, we can all confirm it!」
「Everything she said is true, every last word!」
「We saw it with our own eyes! You think we'd lie?」
The tears came before I could stop them. These people, these neighbors, had just looked me in the face and lied.
「Giving false testimony is a crime! You can all be held legally responsible!」
I was shaking all over, furious and helpless at the same time.
Then a pair of steady hands settled on my shoulders.
Murray was back. I had no idea when he'd arrived.
Eleanor opened her mouth to get her story in first, but Murray raised a hand and cut her off.
「Eleanor, save it. I heard everything you just said.」
「We just had security cameras installed at home. I'll pull up the footage, and then we'll see who's been lying.」
