Chapter 3

The next day, the rumors spread throughout our small neighborhood.

When my mother went downstairs to take out the trash, the neighbors who used to greet her warmly now avoided her as if she carried a contagious disease.

Several elderly women gathered together, pointing toward our home and speaking just loudly enough for my mother to hear.

“That’s the daughter from that house. Tsk, tsk. She does that kind of business outside and still came back to be a bridesmaid. Shameless.”

“I heard she charges quite a lot, too. Tens of thousands a night!”

“No wonder they renovated their house last year. So that’s where the money came from. Disgusting!”

My mother stood frozen in place, holding the trash can, her face turning red and then white.

That evening, one of my father’s former military buddies called him and said the rumors had spread throughout his workplace.

People vividly described how I had supposedly been “caught cheating” at the wedding and how “customers” had come looking for me on the spot.

My father had always cared deeply about his reputation, and he was so furious that he didn’t even eat dinner.

Meanwhile, Chloe, the one who had started everything, acted as if nothing had happened and began constantly posting about her newlywed life on Instagram.

One day she showed off the designer bag Ethan had bought her. The next, she posted pictures of them dining at an upscale restaurant. The day after that, she bragged about how generous a wedding gift Ethan’s family had given her.

Under every post, our mutual friends liked and commented, saying she had married well and looked so happy.

No one remembered the vicious way she had destroyed another young woman’s life.

The harassing calls and messages continued. Some people even found our landline number.

I had no choice but to unplug the phone.

But that wasn’t the end.

That afternoon, Barbara arrived at our door with several relatives, looking furious.

“Lauren! Get out here!” Barbara pounded hard on the metal gate, making it boom.

My mother opened the door and stood in front of her.

“Barbara, what else do you want? Haven’t you and your daughter done enough to Lauren?”

“We hurt her?” Barbara looked as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“She’s the one who brought this on herself and hurt my daughter! She’s a prostitute, and she ruined our wedding. How does she have the nerve to act innocent?”

“Now the entire Cole family is laughing at us! They’re saying our family lives next door to a hostess!”

“What am I supposed to do with my reputation?”

“You owe our family an explanation!”

I stepped out from behind my mother and looked at her coldly.

“What do you want?”

“First, you have to apologize to us in the family group chat, one household at a time!

“You’ll say that you were jealous of Chloe and deliberately caused a scene at her wedding!”

“Second”—she held up two fingers—“you’ll pay us two hundred thousand dollars for emotional damages!”

“You ruined the most important moment of my daughter’s life. This two hundred thousand is to teach you a lesson!”

“If you refuse, we’ll go make trouble at your father’s workplace!”

A sharp-faced relative behind her added:

“Let’s see if he still gets his annual award! We’ll make sure your entire family is humiliated with you!”

My father came out when he heard the commotion, shaking with rage.

“You… you’ve gone too far!”

“So what if we have?” Barbara looked triumphant. “You’re the ones who raised an immoral daughter!”

In the chaos, Barbara suddenly charged forward and raised her hand to slap me.

My father instinctively pulled me backward and stepped in front of me.

The slap landed squarely across his face.

The sound was crisp and loud.

My father staggered back two steps and hit his head against the doorframe with a dull thud.

He clutched his head and slowly crouched down, his face twisted with pain.

“Dad!” I screamed and hurried to support him.

Barbara was startled by what had happened, but she quickly stuck out her chin and shouted, “Stop pretending! I barely touched you, and you’re already down? Are you trying to extort money from us?”

Then she left with the others, cursing all the way.

As I looked at the blood by my father’s temple and the despair in my mother’s tears, something inside me finally snapped.

Chloe and Barbara, your good days are over.