The man outside wouldn’t leave.
The more he shouted, the uglier it got. He said he’d found us from the listing page. He’d paid. He wasn’t leaving empty-handed.
I stood there, my hands and feet cold with fear.
My mother-in-law pushed me into the storage room. “Don’t come out.”
Through the gap, I saw him hold his phone up to the video doorbell.
On the screen: my edited photo, with a price, a time, and our neighborhood info.
The police took him away quickly.
After they left, she turned to Vivian.
“You said the address wasn’t leaked by you. Then why does the price on that page match a joke you made in a group chat?”
She pulled up a screenshot.
Months ago, in an alumni group, someone posted my photo and said I was pretty.
Vivian replied underneath.
“With those looks, three grand to start.”
A crowd piled on, egging it on.
And Colin — he replied with one line.
That’s enough.
I stared at those words. My chest ached.
“When other people made jokes like that about me, why didn’t you stand up for me? Why did you just tell them that was enough?”
Colin’s face was tight. “It was just group chat nonsense. I didn’t take it seriously.”
Vivian finally cracked.
“The original listing — yes, I made it.”
“But I was just trying to scare her.”
“Come on, you’re so serious all the time. I just wanted you to loosen up!”
She grabbed Colin’s sleeve. “Colin, you know me. It was just a prank.”
But this time, Colin didn’t shield her.
Vivian’s face changed. “You want to clean your hands of this now?”
“Colin, if I go down, you’re not walking away innocent.”
My chest clenched. “What do you mean?”
She stared at him, unblinking.
“Your husband was the one who gave me all the surveillance access. Did you know that?”
I whipped toward Colin.
He denied it instantly. “Don’t make things up!”
He panicked and reached for me. “Elara, let me explain.”
I pulled my hand back.
The police arrived.
They traced the paid group and transaction page back to the original promotional account.
That account was linked to Vivian’s computer IP.
They asked her to cooperate with the investigation.
Colin stepped forward instinctively. “She’s not feeling well. Can we do this another day…”
My mother-in-law cut him off coldly. “Shut up.”
She looked at Colin. Her voice had no emotion.
“When you do something wrong, you face the consequences.”
Colin had nothing to say.
That night, I locked myself in the guest room.
Late that night, I heard Colin talking on the phone in the hallway.
It was Vivian.
She said that if I admitted the content had been privately kept between us as a married couple and accidentally leaked, there was still a chance to turn things around.
Colin was silent for a long time.
Then he said, “I’ll have her make a statement tomorrow.”
I leaned against the door. My nails dug into my palms.
Even now, all he could think about was making me clean up their mess.