The next morning, the tide of public opinion completely turned.
The same people who’d been cursing the person who leaked the video the night before now turned around and accused me of staging the whole thing myself.
My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. I didn’t even dare to look.
Soon, Vivian showed up with two people. She said they were her tech friends — they could help clear my name.
The moment she walked in, her eyes went red.
“Elara, I’m going to start a livestream and clear everything up for you.”
I refused flatly. “I’m not going on camera.”
She bit her lip. “But if you don’t respond, everyone will think you’re admitting it.”
Colin backed her up. “Elara. Silence only makes it worse.”
My mother-in-law sat at the dining table. She said the same word.
“Oh.”
Vivian set up the equipment in the living room.
She started the stream, then bowed.
“At first, I did cross a line and took the joke too far. But after the photos were leaked, I’ve been doing everything I can to help.”
Then she launched into her “technical analysis.”
She claimed the screenshots might have been edited and the recording might have been cut.
It sounded like she was defending me.
But every sentence made the whole thing seem impossible to distinguish truth from lies.
Soon, the comments started.
“If none of this is confirmed, why is she freaking out so much?”
Vivian sighed softly. “Elara hasn’t been in a good place lately. I hope everyone can stop pushing her.”
I understood instantly. She was using public opinion to paint me as unstable.
So she could keep controlling me.
What chilled me even more was that Colin was standing right there, yet he didn’t stop her.
I walked downstairs. “Turn it off.”
Vivian stood up immediately. “Elara, I’ve almost got public opinion under control. If you shut it down now, people will only misunderstand you more.”
I stared at Colin. “Why don’t you just tell them the video is real, and I never agreed to have it uploaded?”
His expression flickered.
In that one second, I understood.
He didn’t dare admit it.
My voice cracked. “Or is it that you can’t?”
He spoke quietly. “At first, Vivian did send me screenshots from the surveillance cameras. I thought she was just showing me that the cameras had a vulnerability, so I didn’t stop her in time.”
I froze.
So he saw it. From the start.
He just pretended nothing happened.
Vivian’s eyes went red. “Colin had no idea. I’ll take full responsibility. Elara, you can blame me. But please, don’t let this get out of hand. Okay?”
Colin’s expression softened. “She’s never felt safe. Don’t push her.”
I looked at him. My heart sank, inch by inch.
The livestream was still running.
People in the comments had even started recognizing my home’s interior and asking for the address.
Then my mother-in-law stood, walked to the equipment, and pulled the ethernet cable.
Vivian panicked. “Mrs. Caldwell, cutting the stream like that makes us look guilty.”
She said calmly, “Look at the screen.”
The stream hadn’t gone dark.
That meant the livestream wasn’t relying only on our home network.
The whole “coming over to help” thing was a prepared act.
She glanced at the backend.
The title bar read, clearly:
Jealous Wife Drives Husband’s Childhood Friend to Breaking Point.
Even Colin froze.
The man who’d come with Vivian finally cracked. He muttered, “Don’t drag me into this. She forced me to do it. She said I only needed to steer everyone into thinking this woman was crazy.”
The living room went dead silent.
She put the equipment into clear bags, one piece at a time. “Nobody touches these.”
Colin’s face darkened. “Mom. What are you doing?”
“Call the police. Contact the platforms. Hand over the evidence.”
Colin blocked her. “If this goes any further, Vivian’s life is over.”
I looked down, slipped off my wedding ring, and set it gently on the table.
Colin’s face changed instantly. “Elara…”
I looked at him, eyes burning.
“If you’re still going to protect her, then this marriage ends here.”
The words had barely left my mouth when someone started pounding on the door.
Then a man’s voice shouted my name through the door.
“Elara Vaughn! Open up!”
“I paid! Stop playing dead!”
*****