Chapter 4

Late at night, while Victor was asleep, I slipped into the stairwell and called the reporter from earlier.

"Jack, it's me."

He replied coldly and curtly on the other end, and his voice was tinged with irritation.

"Jack, did you see the stream today?" As I held my phone, tears began to fall.

It had been three years, and I was finally seeing a glimmer of hope.

Jack gave a derisive snort. "Of course, I saw it. Alicia, how could you abuse your husband and savior like this? Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Didn't you look at the stream tonight?"

He replied impatiently, "We might be filming covertly, but we still respect your privacy. The camera automatically shuts off after 9:00 pm."

A wave of endless despair crashed over me, and I could barely register Jack's next words. "I'm telling you, you'd better treat Victor better. The whole internet's after you now. If you keep this up, someone might beat you up in the streets!"

Then, all I heard was beeping as the line went dead.

The spots where Victor had beaten me started to throb sharply. I couldn't even keep myself up anymore as I crouched down, and tears dripped one by one onto the screen.

Then, I searched for today's news. I scrolled past one headline after another, realizing that many clips from the broadcast had been turned into short videos.

I saw myself deliberately splashing boiling water on Victor. Then, I watched as I went out of my way to send desserts to the neighbor downstairs. After that, I saw myself forcing Victor to eat the pineapple salsa that triggered his allergy.

The comments beneath the videos were laden with insults.

"That monster. Has she forgotten that she owes her life to him?"

"When love turns into a burden, it ends with violence and pain."

"I'm terrified of marriage now. Maybe those who say that women are the ones who suffer in marriage should watch this video. This hero of love ended up losing everything!"

"Just watching this is making me suffocate. Marriage really is a gamble. If you face violence like this, you should use the law to protect yourself!"

"Why doesn't that wrench just die already? I'm furious!"

"She's so ungrateful! Without her husband, she'd have died years ago!"

I'd heard words like these countless times before.

But the truth was, if it weren't for Victor, I would never have been trapped under the rubble. And if this world hadn't chained me to the concept of gratitude, I wouldn't have spent all these years in a hopeless marriage.

Numbly, I kept scrolling through the videos until I stumbled upon one clip.

In that instant, I understood why Victor had been acting so abnormally today.

The next morning, the broadcast resumed, and Victor was once again playing the part of the gentle husband. He thoughtfully prepared breakfast for me, watching every one of my movements with tender care.

When he beat me the night before, he had avoided all the parts of my body that were visible to the camera. So, on-screen, I looked perfectly unharmed.

"What a perfect man. If it weren't for his legs, I'd marry him in a heartbeat."

"I hope this woman realizes the man who loves her the most is right by her side."

The comment section was once again full of praise for Victor.

I watched as he struggled to push his wheelchair into the kitchen, and followed behind him. Then, I picked up the kitchen knife that I had been sharpening the entire night.

Making sure the camera could see everything, I stood behind Victor, raised the knife, and aimed it at his neck.

The comment feed exploded.

"What did I just see?"

"That has to be edited, right?"

"No way. Am I hallucinating this early in the morning?"