Chapter 1

On my way to work, I came across a livestream from an influencer who posted about her relationship, tagged at my company’s location.

Her username was “The Boss’s Sweetheart”, and she was sharing stories about her office romance with the powerful CEO of a major corporation.

She had tagged my company, so the “CEO” she was talking about was my husband, wasn’t it?

I pulled over to the side of the road and clicked into her profile. Every video she had posted was part of a wedding-planning diary about her and this CEO. The man never showed his face, but his build looked almost exactly like my husband’s.

So I left a comment in the livestream: “I heard the CEO of Gibson Corporation has been married for a long time. So what does that make you...?”

The next thing I knew, I got a notification saying I had been muted. The streamer instantly burst into tears, looking fragile and wronged.

“The internet isn’t lawless. Are you calling me his mistress?”

“Guys, I only started making videos because I wanted to share a beautiful love story with everyone. I never thought someone would say something like that about me.”

I was completely baffled. What was she crying for?

She had been claiming all along that the man in her videos was the CEO of Gibson Corporation. And I was legally married to him. So didn’t that make her the mistress?

It didn’t’ take long for her fans to start attacking me too.

“You’re probably the other woman yourself. That’s why your mind went there.”

“I checked her profile. She’s some woman in her thirties. She’s obviously jealous because Sweetheart is young, pretty, and has a rich, powerful boyfriend who dotes on her.”

“The account’s brand new. She’s obviously just a troll. Sweetheart, don’t cry. I’m sending you a big gift.”

By then, people had already started flooding my DMs. When I opened them, every single one was from that streamer’s fans.

“I don’t care whose fan you are. You don’t get to bully Sweetheart!”

“How much for a night, old lady?”

“If Sweetheart isn’t Mr. Gibson’s girlfriend, then are you?”

“I’ve been following her for three years. You think you know more than we do? Starting a rumor takes one sentence. Clearing your name takes forever.”

As the messages kept pouring in, I got more and more upset. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

So I replied to one of them, “Of course I’m not his girlfriend.

“I’m his legally wedded wife!”

Unfortunately, I never got the second message out. I had already been blocked.

I wanted to confront that streamer, but by then I had already been kicked out of the livestream. My account had been blocked, reported, and locked out in one coordinated sweep, so I could not even log in to defend myself.

The whole thing ruined my mood, so I turned the car around and went back home.

I had been a stay-at-home wife for the past year. I had originally planned to keep my identity a secret and start an internship at my husband’s company today, but I never expected something like this to happen.

My husband, Eugene Gibson, was overseas negotiating a major deal. I didn’t want to bother him. I was also worried this might be some kind of setup by a competitor trying to force him back home.

But it didn’t stop there. Somehow, they got their hands on my personal photos, edited them into black-and-white memorial-style pictures, and posted them all over the internet.

Some gossip accounts even took my comments from that livestream, clipped them out of context, and turned them into joke videos.

One of the titles was:

“Delusional women are everywhere. Even top influencers have to deal with them.”

They even edited several different versions of the story, and every single one strayed further from the truth.

Before long, my account was trending. Some people even pretended to be me for clout and started livestreaming themselves.

In their livestreams, they flirted with the camera and put on a show.

“Guys, hit follow. I’m the crazy fan girl from yesterday who’s obsessed with Mr. Gibson. I really was trying to ruin Sweetheart’s relationship. Mr. Gibson is handsome and rich. Who wouldn’t want him? Follow me and I’ll do a little dance for you guys.”

My friends saw the videos too and started sending me links to every gossip account smearing me.

They tried to defend me on their own accounts and even posted proof that I was legally married to him.

I thought that would finally end it, but Sweetheart doubled down. She went live again with her most rabid fans, claiming the proof of my marriage was fake. She even brought on a photo-editing blogger to “prove” I had doctored everything.

She kept repeating that line about how easy it was to spread a rumor and how hard it was to clear your name.

Then what exactly was she doing now?

Wasn’t she just taking advantage of the fact that I wasn’t a public figure and using her influencer status to bully me?

My blood was boiling, but I had never been good at dealing with internet drama, and I hated arguing with people.

So I saved every account involved in spreading the rumors and handed everything over to my lawyer.

Instead of wasting time fighting with them online, I would rather make them face legal consequences.

I took a day to calm myself down before finally going to the company to report for work again.

As for that “Sweetheart,” I really wanted to meet her in person and see what her deal was.