Chapter 4
I didn't bother replying. Any war of words with someone like her would be cheap and meaningless. What I wanted was to make her pay the most painful price for her actions in real life.
I took a screenshot of her phone number and the message, then sent it to Mandy. "Mandy, please add this person as a defendant.
"The grounds for the lawsuit are that she ruined my marriage and caused serious harm to my reputation and emotional health."
Mandy's reply was professional. "Miss Moore, purely moral accusations are difficult to uphold in court, but we can use this as evidence of Emerson's wrongdoing and as a basis for claiming compensation for emotional distress."
"Alright, I'll leave everything in your hands," I replied.
After handling that, I didn't bother worrying about Olivia anymore. I knew she wasn't going to give up without a fight. Anyone who spent over ten years scheming to steal my fiancé was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Sure enough, the next morning, she posted a long essay on all our shared social media platforms. The title was: [Sorry, I Fell in Love with Someone I Shouldn't Have.]
Her writing was elegant, heartfelt. She really knew how to sell it. She painted herself as the tragic heroine, willing to risk everything for love.
Not once did she directly blame me, but every single line hinted at how overbearing and unworthy I was.
She went on about how she and Emerson were soulmates, with a connection no one else could ever understand. She said Emerson was miserable with me. She claimed this trip was Emerson's way of finally breaking free and the moment their love finally burst out.
She admitted she was in the wrong, couldn't control her feelings, and ended up hurting me, her so-called best friend. Then she switched gears, saying that love itself was never wrong.
She said she'd take whatever came her way, begging everyone to give them some space.
And at the very end, she slyly slipped in a line: [Maybe a new life is the best proof of all this, and the start of my redemption.]
That one line set the internet on fire. She was pregnant. The news was more explosive than the cheating itself. And like that, the tide started to turn.
Some of the people who'd been bashing her and Emerson before started to waver.
[If she's really pregnant, that changes everything.]
[Honestly, if a woman's willing to have a baby before marriage, it's gotta be true love, right?]
[Violet's pretty pitiful, but if she keeps clinging to this, she's being harsh.]
People started commenting on my feed.
[Violet, sometimes you gotta let things go. There's a baby involved.]
[Yeah, let them have their chance, and give yourself a break.]
Reading those comments, all I felt was amusement. A bunch of bystanders who had nothing to do with any of it, standing on their moral high ground and lecturing me.
They only saw the love story Olivia had written. They couldn't see the real money I'd spent, the real sacrifices I'd made, over the past three years.
Helen wasted no time, using Emerson's account to blast Olivia's essay across every group chat. She threw in a tearful voice message. She said, "Emerson has finally found true love. I was blind before and almost ruined my son's happiness.
"Violet is a good girl, but she's too headstrong for our family. Now that Olivia's carrying our grandchild, the Goodman family will take full responsibility.
"We hope Violet will consider the good old days and cut us some slack. We're willing to return the hundred and fifty thousand to her, and we'll call it quits."
The whole Goodman clan was putting on a flawless performance, playing their parts perfectly, acting like the responsible family that stood up for love. And me? I was cast as the petty, vicious ex, the one blocking their path to happiness.
Did they really think this would make me back down? Use public opinion to strong-arm me into giving up what's rightfully mine?
Just then, Mandy's call came through. Her voice was calm and serious. "Miss Moore, the other side's lawyer has reached out. They've officially proposed a settlement."
With a cold smirk inside, I asked, "What's their offer?"
"They're willing to return the 150 thousand dollars in wedding money, but they want you to drop the lawsuit immediately and give up any claim to the house.
"In other words, they're trying to trade 150 thousand dollars for your house worth over three million dollars," Mandy said, her tone laced with sarcasm.
I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "Are they insane?"
"No, they're not insane," Mandy replied, her tone turning serious. "This is their way of going to war with us. They think with the baby card and the whole internet backing them up, they've already got this in the bag."
I walked over to the window, watching the heavy traffic below. The sunlight was beautiful, but my heart felt nothing but cold.
"Mandy, if they want a war, then we'll fight them all the way," I said.
*****
I turned down the other lawyers' so-called settlement. It was nothing but an insult. My stance was firm. "See you in court. I won't let them take a single dollar from me."
Mandy was clearly impressed. "Miss Moore, that's the spirit I know. When it comes to people like this, you can't afford to go soft, not for a second."
For the next few days, I threw myself into getting ready for the lawsuit. I went through every piece of evidence again, bank statements, transfer records, receipts, chat logs. I highlighted every single transaction.
When Emerson started his business, I sent him 100,000 dollars with a note that said, [Go get 'em, honey]. For his mom's birthday, I wired 15,000 dollars so she could buy a present, with a message: [Happy birthday, Helen].
And when he was out drinking with his buddies and couldn't pay the tab, he'd call me, and I'd send him 6,000 dollars right away. Every single one was a receipt for three years of my own stupidity.
I dug up the emails Emerson and I had sent each other back in college. Back then, he'd write me these long, heartfelt love letters, every word full of dreams for our future.
He promised he'd get me a big house, a fancy car, and make me the happiest woman in the world. Looking back now, those promises felt like a slap in the face, hard and humiliating.
I printed out all those emails, too. Mandy said they wouldn't count as direct evidence for splitting the assets, but they could be used in court to show what kind of person Emerson really was. He broke every promise and leeched off me for years.
While I was buried in all this paperwork, someone I never expected reached out to me. It was Cheryl Hawkins, a college roommate I shared with Olivia.
We'd never been close, acquaintances, and after graduation, we barely kept in touch. She suddenly messaged me on WhatsApp: [Violet?]
I was a bit surprised. [Yeah, what's up?]
Cheryl sent a sigh emoji. [I saw what Olivia posted, and all those comments in the group chat. It's driving me crazy. That cheating couple, and that old woman, they totally blew my mind. Are you okay?]
Her words warmed my heart. Right now, a genuine check-in meant more than anything. I replied: [I'm okay. I'm going through the legal process. Thanks for asking.]
Cheryl hesitated for a second, then sent me a voice message. She said, "Violet, I'm not sure if I should say this, but back in college, Olivia was honestly a bit off. She'd secretly copy you all the time.
"If you bought a new outfit, she'd show up with something almost identical later. Whatever perfume you wore, she'd sneak out and buy the same one. She kept a little notebook where she'd write down things you said to Emerson on your dates.
"One time, I stumbled across it, and she totally lost it, yelling at me for invading her privacy. Back then, I thought she was weird and didn't pay much attention. But now, thinking about it, she was plotting from the very start."
Cheryl's words hit me like a bolt of lightning. I always thought Olivia started coveting Emerson after graduation, but she'd been scheming behind my back since college.
A chill ran down my spine. Someone who copied me, watched my every move, and was secretly waiting to take my place, lurking by my side for years. This wasn't a friend turning on me. This was a real-life horror story.
Cheryl kept going. "I've got something else that might help you. Remember that time in our senior year when we all went to the bar for Emerson's birthday?
"Everyone was drunk, and we were playing truth or dare. Someone asked Olivia what her biggest wish was. Guess what she said?"
My heart sank.
"She looked right at Emerson and said, half-joking, half-serious, 'My biggest wish is that when Violet dumps you, I'll pick you up and take you home.' We all thought it was a joke and started teasing them.
"And Emerson laughed and said, 'Sure.' I was bored, so I recorded it on my phone, thinking I'd make a little video for memories, but then I forgot about it. I'll dig it up. It should still be on my old laptop."
Half an hour later, I got an email with a video attachment, a few seconds long.
The video was shaky and noisy, but Olivia and Emerson's voices came through loud and clear. Back then, they still looked so young and naive. But hearing those words now, every single one of them cut me to the core.
This was the smoking gun, proof they'd been scheming all along. I forwarded the video to Mandy. After she watched it, she replied with four words: [We've got this.]
*****
Two days later, the court summons landed in Emerson and Helen's hands. I knew the final battle was about to begin.
But I never expected Helen to strike back so quickly, and so crazily. She actually showed up at my parents' workplace, right at the entrance, crying and screaming.
She went around telling everyone my parents had raised a daughter who was immoral and promiscuous, someone who married up and now wanted to dump her son and take their family's money.
When my mom called me, her voice was trembling. "Violet, you need to come here right now. That crazy Helen is going to ruin us."