Chapter 4

After Alex posted the marriage certificate, the backlash online nearly drowned me.

My boss called me into her office and slid a resignation agreement across the desk.

"Mary, the company doesn't want to get dragged into this. You should resign."

I looked down at the paper. So that was it. Seven years of my life had collapsed, my parents didn't want me, and now I'd lost my job too.

On my way out of the building, someone at the entrance held up a phone to film me, their eyes full of contempt. I pulled my hat low and practically fled onto a bus headed for the countryside.

At least there was still one person in the world who would always believe in me.

When I saw my grandmother, Amanda Hunkins, waiting at the gate the way she used to when I was little, I couldn't hold back anymore. I ran straight into her arms.

Her voice shook as she patted my back gently.

"My darling Mary, how did you get so thin? Grandma's here. Don't cry."

That night, I finally slept.

But the next morning, I was jolted awake by shouting outside. When I ran out, Natalie was already standing at the gate.

Matt tilted his face up and called out sweetly, "Hello."

Grandma Amanda froze. "Whose child is this?"

Natalie crouched down and stroked Matt's head.

"Matt, tell the lady who your daddy is."

My face changed. I cut her off.

"Natalie, what are you doing here?"

Natalie looked up at me, a satisfaction in her eyes she couldn't hide.

"To see you, of course."

I clenched my fingers, my voice going cold.

"To laugh at me? Natalie, what did I ever do to wrong you? When your parents divorced and no one was looking after you, I was the one who brought you home to eat with my family. When you broke up with your boyfriend, I was the one who took you in. I treated you like my best friend. Why would you do this to me?"

Natalie arched an eyebrow and let out a cold laugh.

"Mary, do you think you're some kind of saint? You were good to me so that I'd be grateful to you for the rest of my life. That's what you really thought, isn't it?"

I froze. "I never thought that."

But Natalie looked like she'd just heard a joke.

"Of course you never had to think that way, because you had everything. Parents who adored you. A boyfriend who spoiled you. And me? I got to wear the clothes you didn't want anymore, live in the room you gave up, and take whatever scraps of kindness your parents felt like handing me when they pitied me."

Her eyes were red, but underneath, there was nothing but hatred.

"What I hated most was that clueless, charitable look you always had. Later, your parents ended up feeling sorrier for me than for you. And Alex married me instead. Mary, do you have any idea how satisfying that was?"

Grandma Amanda, trembling all over, planted herself firmly in front of me and shoved Natalie back out through the gate.

"Get out of here. Mary doesn't have a friend like you!"

Natalie sneered and held her phone up in front of Grandma Amanda.

"Here, look closely."

On the screen was the marriage certificate Alex had posted, along with the clip of my parents in an interview calling me obsessive and shameless.

"Alex and I have been married for four years. Mary's parents and friends all confirm it. And yet, she's still shamelessly clinging to my husband."

Grandma Amanda's breathing turned ragged.

"Mary isn't like that."

Natalie's eyes reddened, but her voice suddenly rose, each word landing like a blow.

"Don't you hate homewreckers more than anything? Well, guess what. Your favorite granddaughter has been someone's mistress for seven years."

The words landed.

Grandma Amanda's whole body went rigid.

When she was young, her husband had run off with another woman. Ever since, the thing she'd hated most in this world was a mistress. And now, the ugliest word she knew had just been pinned on me.

The next second, she collapsed.

Natalie's face went pale for an instant. She stepped back and ran off with her son.

The ambulance came fast. But Grandma Amanda didn't make it to the hospital.

Before she went, she gripped my hand, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes.

"Mary, Grandma believes you. I know you're not that kind of person."

Then her hand slipped from mine.

The last person in this world who believed in me was gone. Natalie had driven her to her death too.

I held her body as it grew colder and colder, crying until I could barely breathe.

I arranged Grandma Amanda's funeral alone and buried her under the tree I'd loved most as a child.

Right around then, Alex sent me a message.

[Mary, Natalie's in a terrible state right now. Post a video admitting you were the mistress, and I won't pursue anything you've done. We can still be together.]

I stared at those lines and let out a cold laugh.

I opened the livestream app.

The moment the camera came on, there were still tears on my face. I looked at the numbers pouring into the stream and spoke, "Hello, everyone. I'm Mary Healey. This is about Alex Timbers, Natalie Wilde, and my parents. I have some truths to tell you."