The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse

Just days after being discharged from the hospital, my husband’s adopted sister, Wendy Crowley, went live.Crying on a rooftop, she accused me of causing her miscarriage."The ultrasound already showed it was a boy… and that woman took his life!"She can’t have children herself, so she couldn’t stand that I could. I want her to pay for my child’s death!"My husband, Tristan Crowley, believed every word."Wendy, I failed to protect you. If I’d known she hated you this much, I would’ve locked her away long ago."The livestream sparked outrage.Everyone demanded justice."This is murder. She’s rotten to the core!""Where’s the law? Lock her up immediately!"However, when Tristan and Wendy tracked me down–still streaming live–everyone watching… broke down in tears....Tristan Crowley and Wendy Crowley rolled out of the city with a full livestream crew and a line of bodyguards.The convoy stopped at a private villa tucked away in the foothills.Nobody was permitted to enter that property.

Wendy's eyes flickered at the drunk's line.She bit down on her teeth, dug into her pocket, pulled her phone out, and turned the screen at the camera."You want to call me a liar. I have proof."It was a piece of hospital surveillance from three days ago.A woman walked into frame.Hair loose around her shoulders. Fruit knife in her right hand.It was supposed to be me. May Fairfax.The footage had me with murder on my face, kicking a hospital room door open, walking straight to the bed.Then in one motion, the knife came down across Wendy's belly.Wendy's voice came out of the speakers, raw."Help! Somebody! She's killing my baby!"The pitch of it could have cut glass.The nurse station lights started flashing. White coats came running into the frame.In the video, I turned and ran. The end of the corridor swallowed me.The footage cut.The chat lost its mind.[Holy sh*t! She actually did it!][What is there left to debate? The proof is right there! May is a murderer!

The officer sent the surveillance file off for analysis.The technicians came back fast. The hospital footage that had supposedly shown me attacking Wendy was a deepfake.The original clip was from a different incident at the same hospital a week earlier. The woman in the original footage was a stranger. Wendy had paid someone to swap that woman's face for mine, and to swap the patient's face for her own. The seam was clean. Edited well. The whole thing was a fabrication.When the lab's findings hit the livestream, the chat detonated.[The video is fake! Wendy was lying!][So the wound on her belly is fake too! She was never pregnant!][We got played. Wendy, you horrible woman!][I was just cursing at May… I was cursing at a dead woman…]There was no blood left in Wendy's face.She watched the chat she had whipped into a frenzy turn on her one comment at a time. Her lips were shaking."That isn't… That isn't what happened."She turned to Tristan."Tristan, you believe me, r

Wendy was convicted on falsification of evidence, defamation, fraud, and inducing perjury, charges combined. She was sentenced to twelve years.The day they brought her out of the courtroom, a taxi stopped at the curb.The door opened. A woman in her fifties got out.Grandma.I came up out of the bench so fast I forgot I had no body.She had lost weight. Her hair had gone the color of paper. Her eyes were swollen and red. She held an envelope in her hand."Wendy..." She called her by name.Wendy turned. The instant she saw who it was, her pupils tightened.Grandma walked over. Her hands shook as she opened the envelope and pulled out a photograph.The photograph was of a girl with a high ponytail and a wide, easy smile.Eighteen-year-old me."This was May." Grandma's voice was small. "She didn't have her parents. I raised her. After she married into your family, she sent me money every month. She never let me know she was struggling."Tears were running down Grandma's face.