Chapter 2

Later, I was raped and left dead on the side of the road, with no one even bothering to claim my body.

Meanwhile, Tina became a nationally famous influencer doctor. She got everything she wanted: fame, money, Sam, and a picture-perfect family with both a son and a daughter.

“Xena Spencer, you slut! How desperate are you? Running around all day letting men feel you up, and now look at what you’ve done to yourself!”

The burning sting on my face snapped me back to the present. I looked up at Sam’s furious face as he screamed abuse at me.

Tina only poured fuel on the fire, telling me to hurry up and confess.

“Xena, I’ve seen plenty of women like you. I’m sure a lot of men have ‘massaged’ your chest before, so stop pretending to be innocent and just admit it.”

When I still didn’t argue back, Sam’s expression turned even darker. He lashed out and kicked me hard behind the knee.

He kept cursing at me, saying he must have been blind to ever treat a woman like me as something precious.

The kick forced me down to my knees with a thud. My forehead slammed hard against the metal bench, splitting the skin open.

Tina even had the nerve to remind him to get checked at the hospital, just in case he had caught some kind of disease from me.

Pressing a hand over the blood on my forehead, I slowly got back to my feet and quietly asked Tina how exactly she had come to that conclusion.

Tina folded her arms, looking irritated and defensive, as though my question had somehow challenged her professional authority.

“No normal woman is built like that. And you expect me to believe no man had anything to do with it? Yeah, right.”

At her words, everyone in the courthouse turned to stare at us.

They looked at me with open disgust. I could hear people whispering that I was a disgrace to women.

I let out a quiet laugh and pretended not to hear them. Then I looked at Tina, my face unreadable.

“You’re supposed to be a top medical student. Don’t tell me you don’t know some women are naturally big-breasted.”

I paused. As Tina’s face turned pale, my smile only deepened.

“Or do you know, and you’re just trying to smear me?”

The second I said that, Tina froze.

Sam immediately pulled her behind him and frowned. “Tina’s not the kind of woman who would make something like that up. Xena, can you be reasonable for once?”

I was so angry I almost laughed. But underneath the anger was an even deeper sadness.

Sam and I had been together for over a decade. We had been a couple since middle school. If I were involved with someone else, wouldn’t he be the first to know?

Besides, this wasn’t the first time Tina had slandered me. If I bought a coffee, she would tell everyone I was “accepting gifts” from other men and two-timing him. If I had dinner with my best friend, she would claim it was just a cover for a secret date.

Every time, Sam said she was just being childish and told me not to take it to heart. He even promised to set her straight, but she never changed. If anything, she only got worse.

I looked at Tina, who had already gone back to acting smug now that she was hiding behind Sam. I let out a cold laugh.

“You want evidence? Fine. Tina, did you actually see me in bed with someone? Did you see any man touch me? If you don’t have proof, then shut your mouth and stop making things up.”