She stroked her belly, her smile equal parts tender and cruel.

"If I have a son, I'll make sure to teach him to protect himself so he doesn't get trapped by women like that."

"And if it's a daughter, she definitely wouldn't stoop to something so shameless."

Something inside my skull snapped clean in half.

Jesse hadn't just told her. He'd let her twist it into this filthy version and parade my scars as entertainment in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers.

I was shaking so hard I could barely type, but I poured every ounce of strength I had left into one comment.

"You're the shameless homewrecker here!"

The next second, I was blocked and muted.

Then the flood came. Calls and texts from countless unknown numbers, all at once.

"You seduced a professor, you slut, and you have the nerve to talk?"

"A woman like you can't have kids? That's karma!"

"Go die! Stop contaminating the air!"

The venom swallowed me whole.

I couldn't hold on anymore. I hurled my phone at the wall, slid down to the floor, and sobbed until I couldn't breathe.

Jesse didn't know.

That professor never succeeded.

I had gone to beg that animal to sign a pardon letter so Jesse could keep his degree.

And that sick old man had brutalized me until the damage was permanent.

I traded half my life for his bright future.

And he turned it into pillow talk with another woman.

I braced myself against the wall, found the backup phone in the house, and sent Jesse one message.

"I know about you and Edith. Let's get a divorce."

Less than three minutes after I hit send, the front door was kicked open.

Jesse stood in front of me, his face dark with fury.

"Lucretia Chavez, how could you be so shameless? Going behind my back to feed lies to Edith's parents?"

He threw me so hard my vision blurred and my ears rang. I couldn't even process what he was saying.

"Edith? What happened to her parents?"

Jesse drove his knee into my chest, pressing down with enough force to splinter ribs.

"Keep pretending! Go on!"

"Edith's parents saw the messages calling her a homewrecker. Her father had a heart attack and is in the ICU."

"Who else would do something like that if not you?"

Cold sweat streamed down my face. I clung to his wrist with everything I had, shaking my head desperately.

"I only found out about you and her today. I don't even know where her parents live. How could I have reported anything?"