My wife, Vivian Oravec, came home early from her business trip to find me on the sofa with our young nanny. She flew into a rage, screaming and smashing things, then called her family to drag me out and tie me to a tree in the middle of the community courtyard for a public shaming. “Lex Hoult, why would you cheat on me? Don’t I give you what you need?” Vivian sobbed, her accusations echoing for all to hear. Her pet intern, Leo, picked up a branch and began whipping me with it, calling me a scumbag. A few bloody tears escaped my eyes. I gritted my teeth and shot back, “Doesn’t this feel familiar, Vivian? A lot like the day Tilly died?” Vivian froze. “Your memory… it’s back?” … “Lex Hoult!” “Our daughter has only been gone a month, and you’re already bringing another woman into our home! Have you no shame?” Vivian’s eyes were red with fury as she screamed at me. I slowly lit a cigarette, my voice calm. “You could cheat too, you know. I wouldn’t mind.” “Don’t act so high and mighty,” I added, my tone laced with contempt. “You’re never home anyway. For all I know, you’ve been screwing around for years.” Beside me, the young nanny pulled on a pair of sexy, black silk stockings and chimed in, “He’s got a point.” Her comment made me chuckle. That sent Vivian over the edge. She lunged, aiming a slap at the nanny, but I caught her wrist in a vice grip, allowing the nanny to slip away. “Lex! You’re defending an outsider against me? You bastard! You cheating bastard!” Vivian stared at me in disbelief, her fists raining down on my chest in a wild, frantic flurry. “Stop acting crazy!” I shoved her away, my patience worn thin. At that exact moment, her intern, Leo, arrived with her entire family in tow. Seeing Vivian crumpled on the floor in front of the sofa, they all saw red. Leo stormed over and grabbed my collar. “Lex Hoult!” he roared, spittle flying in my face. “Not only do you cheat on your wife, you hit her too? What kind of man are you? Is this how you honor your daughter’s memory?” “You have no right to mention my daughter!” My own anger flared. I threw a punch, sending him staggering backward. Vivian scrambled to her feet. “Are you some kind of rabid dog, biting everyone you see? Why did you hit Leo?” Seeing that I was not only unrepentant but defiant, her family’s eyes practically shot flames. “My daughter gave you everything!” her mother shrieked. “She didn’t care that you were some poor kid from the sticks with no car and no house! She married you anyway!” “How could you betray her like this?” her father bellowed. “We never should have been soft on you! We should have let you kneel in the rain until you died before we ever agreed to this marriage!” “Today, I’m going to let everyone see you for the pathetic trash you are! And I’ll make sure you never work in the medical field again!” Led by Vivian’s parents, her whole clan—aunts, uncles, cousins—descended on me. I was hopelessly outnumbered, trussed up like a pig for slaughter, and carried to the center of the courtyard. They tied me to a large oak tree and stripped me down to my boxers. “Come and see the cheating, wife-beating scumbag!” one of her aunts screamed. “Someone, please, judge for yourself! My poor niece, dedicating her life to her family, only to have her husband fool around with the nanny!” “This animal was in our home, in front of his own daughter’s memorial photo, making out with the help! It’s an unforgivable sin!” Vivian’s family wailed and shouted, drawing a large crowd of residents from the surrounding apartment buildings. As the story spread, their eyes filled with disgust, and a chorus of insults rained down on me. I was inhuman. I deserved to die. “After your car accident, Vivian stayed by your bedside day and night! That was just a few weeks ago! Where is your conscience?” “You can’t even keep it in your pants, you son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!” Vivian’s parents took turns slapping me across the face. The crowd, emboldened, joined in. Some spat on me. Others threw clumps of dirt and small stones. I was a mess of filth and humiliation. Through her tears, Vivian demanded, “Lex, tell me! Why did you cheat?” I gave a self-deprecating laugh. “You know damn well why.” “Was it because I couldn’t satisfy you? That whole drawer of lingerie… I bought all of it for you! What more could you possibly want?” she shrieked, her voice cracking with near-hysterical grief. Her words hung in the air. A thousand murderous glares focused on me, burning with righteous fury. “Vivian, this bastard is beyond saving,” Leo said, wiping a tear from her cheek before picking up a thick branch from the ground. He turned and whipped it across my body. “You worthless scumbag!” Again and again, the branch struck, leaving bloody welts across my skin. The crowd cheered. Vivian’s family urged him on, yelling for him to hit me harder, to not let me off easy. Only Vivian herself finally stopped him. “Lex,” she said, her voice trembling, “we’ve been together for ten years. It hasn’t been easy.” “If you admit you were wrong and promise, in front of everyone, to change, I’ll give you one more chance.” The crowd murmured their approval, marveling at Vivian’s kindness, clucking about how such a beautiful flower was wasted on a pile of manure. “Admit I was wrong?” I ground my teeth together, the sound a low, dangerous growl. “Vivian, doesn’t this whole scene feel familiar? A lot like the day our daughter, Tilly, died?” Vivian’s pupils contracted into pinpricks. “Your memory… it’s back?” Seeing the shock on her face, I pressed on, my voice rising. “It was a hundred degrees out, and Tilly was surrounded by a mob, all of them pointing and screaming at her.” “And your precious, favored intern, Leo, instead of helping her, he locked her in a dog cage to ‘teach her a lesson.’” “Do you have any idea how hard she cried, Vivian?” Vivian’s fists clenched at her sides. She bit her lip, her voice a low, defensive murmur. “Leo didn’t mean for it to happen.” Her words were a knife in my heart. A few tears, thick and red with blood, slid from the corners of my eyes. “Vivian! Tilly was your daughter! Your own flesh and blood! How can you be so heartless?” “She begged for a sip of water, but no one would give her any. The sun baked her skin until it peeled, and her lips were so cracked they bled.” “When you saw her body… didn’t you feel anything?” My accusations hung in the hot, still air. Vivian was trembling, and beside her, Leo looked tense. The crowd began to shift, their gazes turning from me to them, a strange new suspicion dawning in their eyes. “Her own daughter was killed by her intern, and she keeps him around? Is she crazy?” “I bet they’re having an affair.” “No wonder the husband cheated. He must have been completely heartbroken.” Even Vivian’s mother was staring at her now. “Vivian, you told us Tilly’s death was an accident. Leo, what really happened?” Her father’s glare was fixed on Leo, demanding an explanation. “It was all my fault…” Leo slapped himself across the face, his voice choked with fake sobs. “I took Tilly out to play that day. I just turned my back for a second to buy some water, and she was gone.” “Later, I found out she’d run into a bakery and tried to steal some bread. The owner caught her, threw her in a cage, and put her on the roof to punish her.” “Vivian was in surgery, and I tried calling and texting Lex, but he never answered.” “I’m so sorry. I failed to protect her. I should be the one who’s dead!” He started slapping himself again, harder this time. “Stop it, don’t do that.” Vivian rushed to his side, her voice filled with a pained tenderness. “I never got any calls or messages from you,” I said, my voice hoarse. “You killed my daughter…” Before I could finish, Vivian spun around and slapped me. “How many times do I have to tell you? It had nothing to do with Leo! It was the bakery owner, and there’s a warrant out for his arrest.” “Besides,” she added, her voice dripping with accusation, “if you hadn’t been starving Tilly, would she have needed to steal bread in the first place?” I stared at her, stunned. “You’re her mother. Don’t you know your own daughter? Do you really think she was a thief?” “Don’t you know how much she adored me?” Vivian was a busy surgeon, often tied up in operations for hours. I had quit my own job at the hospital to be a full-time father to Tilly. If she had been malnourished, it would have been obvious. More than that, Tilly was a sweet, gentle soul. She would have starved before she stole. Vivian was silent. But Leo stepped forward, his voice ringing with righteous indignation. “Stop making excuses, Lex! I checked with her preschool. The teachers said Tilly fainted several times, but she was always fine after a little snack and a drink.” “And I have video proof!” He pulled out his phone and played a clip for the crowd. It showed a teacher leading a group of children in a game. Suddenly, Tilly collapsed. “I have dozens of videos just like this one! What do you have to say for yourself now, Lex?” Leo’s voice was cold and triumphant. “You son of a bitch! You didn’t feed your own daughter? What kind of father are you?” “My poor granddaughter must have been starving to steal that bread! It’s all your fault, you irresponsible bastard!” Vivian’s parents lunged at me again, hitting and screaming. Their relatives followed suit. The crowd cheered them on, their anger reignited, wishing they could strangle me on the spot. Vivian looked at me, her eyes filled with disappointment. “Leo was trying to protect you. He didn’t release these videos out of respect for me.” “And you? You repay his kindness by trying to frame him!” “Wasn’t killing Tilly enough for you? Now you want to destroy Leo too? When did you become so evil?” Her self-righteous questions were a physical blow. I let out a bitter, tear-filled laugh. “Vivian, just because you see something with your own eyes doesn’t make it the truth.” “If I told you Tilly had hypoglycemia, would you believe me?” Vivian froze for a second. But Leo just sneered. “Are you going to use that to claim you didn’t cheat? That what Vivian saw was just an illusion?” “Using your dead daughter like this… you’re truly disgusting!” His words hit their mark. Vivian’s face hardened. “Lex, not only am I Tilly’s mother, I’m also a doctor. Don’t you think I would know if she had hypoglycemia?” “Don’t try to twist the facts to excuse your affair!” Her parents and the rest of her family started screaming at me again, calling me an animal. Through the storm of insults, I kept my eyes locked on Vivian. “I didn’t cheat on you! You and Leo set me up!” “Bullshit!” Leo shot back immediately. “You were caught red-handed, and you’re still denying it? Have you no shame?” “You’re still spouting lies! I’ll shut your mouth for you!” Vivian’s father took off his shoe and started beating me across the face with it, splitting my lip. But my resolve didn’t waver. My voice was cold and steady. “In a little while, I’ll be able to prove my innocence. But some people… might not be so lucky.” My gaze, filled with pure hatred, shifted between Leo and Vivian. “Enough!” Vivian snapped, planting a hand on her hip. “Do you really think anyone is going to believe your empty words? Do you take us all for three-year-olds?” “I’m telling you right now,” she declared, “you will stay tied to this tree until you admit you’re wrong. Otherwise, you can bake in the sun all day!” I said nothing. The crowd muttered that I was stubborn, that I was a lost cause. The temperature was well over a hundred degrees. Under the relentless sun, I felt like I was being roasted on a spit, burning from the inside out. Sweat soaked my clothes, evaporating almost as soon as it appeared. Dehydration made my mouth dry, my lips crack, and my head spin. I thought of my daughter. She had died in this same heat, alone on a rooftop, her cries for help unanswered. Her small life had faded away, bit by bit, until she died of dehydration. She must have been so scared, so desperate. She must have been hoping that her mommy and daddy would suddenly appear, like superheroes, with a bottle of water and a popsicle. “I’ve got watermelon, popsicles, and all kinds of cold drinks! Free for everyone!” Leo’s cheerful shout broke through my haze. He had arranged for a truckload of watermelon and three mobile freezers to be brought to the courtyard, offering refreshments to the crowd. “Leo, you’re so thoughtful,” Vivian said, a happy smile gracing her lips as she took a cold drink from him. “It’s the least I can do,” he replied with a modest smile, before distributing drinks and popsicles to her family. “What a fine young man!” her parents gushed. “Puts a certain scumbag to shame!” The crowd nodded in agreement. The sight of it all made me sick. Leo sauntered over to me, holding a popsicle. He lowered his voice, a cruel sneer on his face. “Hot? Thirsty?” “Call me ‘Daddy,’ and I’ll let you have it. Otherwise, you can end up just like your daughter—a dried-up piece of jerky.” “You should have seen her,” he whispered, his eyes gleaming. “So pathetic. I recorded the whole thing. I watch it every night…” A primal rage exploded within me. I spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm in his face. “You… monster!” Seeing the commotion, Vivian rushed over. She saw the blood on Leo’s face and immediately turned on me. “Lex Hoult!” “Leo was kind enough to offer you a popsicle, and you repay him like this? You ungrateful dog!” “I must have been blind to ever have fallen for a piece of filth like you!” Still not satisfied, she raised her hand to slap me. “Keep your filthy hands to yourself!” A sharp, female voice cut through the air. Everyone turned to look. It was the nanny. She had returned, and behind her were two police officers. They immediately started to untie me. Vivian’s fury erupted. “You! You have the nerve to come back here, you little homewrecker!” “I’ve seen shameless, but this is a new level,” Leo sneered. “Being a mistress and then calling the cops? Pathetic.” Vivian’s family clenched their fists, looking like they wanted to tear the nanny to pieces. “Talk is cheap, isn’t it?” the nanny said, her voice cool. “What proof do you have that I’m a mistress?” “I… I saw you with my own two eyes!” Vivian spat, her teeth clenched. “So, you have no actual proof?” The nanny’s lips curved into a slight smile. She turned to the police. “Vivian Oravec and Leo Croft have falsely accused me of being a mistress, and they have intentionally harmed Lex Hoult.” “Please, arrest them.” Hearing her words, I, the one who had willingly walked into this trap, allowed myself a small smile. The show… was just getting started. Leo panicked. “You little tramp! How dare you make false accusations! You really are shameless!” “You’re so proud of being a mistress you have to flaunt it?” Vivian frowned and looked at me. “Lex, if you have any decency left, you’ll admit what you did!” I took a sip of the cold drink the nanny handed me. “I’m innocent. Why should I admit to something I didn’t do?” “If you think I cheated, then show me the proof.” Her face contorted with rage. She threw her popsicle to the ground. “I saw you! On the sofa! All over each other!” Her father stepped forward. “Officer, my daughter has always been a good, honest girl. She would never lie. The only reason we punished Lex Hoult is because he cheated first!” Her family all nodded in agreement. “Hearsay is not evidence,” one of the officers said sternly. “We need proof. Otherwise, you can be held legally responsible for false imprisonment, defamation, and assault.” “That’s right!” the nanny chimed in. “The burden of proof is on the accuser!” Vivian’s father turned to her. “Well? Show them the proof! Show this disgusting pair for what they are!” “I… I… I was in such a state, I didn’t think to take a picture or a video,” Vivian stammered. The crowd stared, a collective sense of being duped settling over them. Their gazes on Vivian and Leo began to shift, growing strange and suspicious. “You may not have proof,” the nanny said with a smile, “but I do.” She took out her phone and played a recording. “Vivian wants me to find a way to take Lex down a peg, so I’m planning on framing him for cheating with the nanny. I’ll need you to help me buy some bots to get it trending online.” The voice was Leo’s. All eyes, including Vivian’s, turned to him in shock.
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