Oscar never once asked me. He just assumed—

assumed I'd choked down every disgusting thing they'd done and kept it down like a good girl.

That I'd stand right where he left me, wait for him to finish playing around, and let him waltz back to marry me when he was bored.

But here's what he didn't know:

Once someone was dirty, I was done with them.

A flash of venom and resentment crossed Meryl's eyes, there and gone.

In the next breath, she was pouting, pointing at the crescent-moon necklace around my neck. "Well, if we're all going our separate ways anyway… could I maybe have that necklace you gave Barbara? Just something to remember us by?"

My hand went to my throat on instinct.

I looked at Oscar.

He knew what this necklace meant—our promise, the one thing that was supposed to be ours alone. He'd apprenticed himself to a jeweler and shaped it for me bit by bit with his own hands, and the look in his eyes when he'd clasped it around my neck was still so vivid I could feel his fingers there now. "My little moon. You're mine—I put my mark on you. As long as the moon's still in the sky, the way I love you won't change."

The moon was still in the sky. But the heart behind those words was already gone.

"Barbara, give it to Meryl."

He'd barely said it before something in his own expression flickered, and he added, "Come on, we've got our whole future. It's one necklace. Your husband'll buy you ten more."

I'd expected exactly this. It still felt like a fist closing around my heart.

I lowered my eyes, forcing back the burn behind them, unclasped the necklace and set it on the table. "You guys have fun. I'm heading back."

Oscar's gaze stayed on my back as I turned and walked away.

Something twisted in his chest—sudden, instinctive, wrong.

As if the moment I walked through that door, something between us would break past the point of repair.

He stood up before he even realized it, about to follow, but Meryl caught his arm and pressed herself against him, her voice low and suggestive.

"Oscar, tonight's my celebration party. I've got a little something planned for after. Your favorite. Black lace."

His gaze dropped to the parted collar of her top. His throat moved.

He wavered for a moment, then stepped back and sat down.

It would be fine.

We'd been together for so many years. He was everything I leaned on, everything I believed in. I loved him that much. There was no way I'd actually leave him.

As if that settled it, Oscar pulled Meryl closer and eased back in his seat, perfectly comfortable with himself.

No one saw Meryl toss the crescent-moon necklace into the trash.

Early the next morning, I was still asleep when my door slammed open hard enough to hit the wall.

Before I could even process being startled awake, a rough grip yanked me off the bed.

The instant I looked up,

I was staring straight into the barely contained fury burning across Oscar's face.

"I told you—what I have with Meryl doesn't mean anything. So why the hell would you do this!"

"What, you won't be happy until she's dead?"

I stared at him, wide-eyed, with no idea what he was talking about. Then his phone came flying at me.

On the open screen were explicit photos of Meryl, too degrading to look at.

The critical areas were blurred, but every curve of her body was on full display.

Below the photos, someone had posted her address and phone number.

The headline was vicious: "Ungrateful charity case fucks her sponsor's boyfriend — open for business, come get some."

The comments had already blown past ten thousand, and the sewage just kept rising.

"You can take the girl out of the gutter but you can't take the gutter out of the girl. Poverty didn't limit her imagination and it damn sure didn't keep her legs shut."

"Shameless whore. Gets around like that, pretty sure she'd take anyone."

"Bites the hand that feeds her. Put her down. She's wasting oxygen just breathing."

"On my way. Any brothers want to carpool?"

"…"

Oscar's face was livid. "Meryl slit her wrists because of you. They barely saved her."

"I've already got the press lined up. You're going to that hospital, you're getting on your knees, and you're going to tell everyone you photoshopped those pictures because you were jealous. You're going to clear her name yourself."

I looked at him like I was looking at a stranger.

"I didn't do it. I'm not going."

Meryl appeared out of nowhere, dressed in a hospital gown that made her look frail and pitiful, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Oscar, please, don't make things hard for Barbara because of me. I'm the shameless one who fell for you. I don't blame her for hating me. If anyone's at fault, it's me for not being able to control my feelings."

Oscar looked at her—shaking, barely able to stand—and pulled her straight into his arms, something cracking behind his eyes.

"You're not the one who did anything wrong. Nobody gets to blame you for this!"

He lifted his gaze to me, every trace of warmth replaced by ice.

"Barb, I'm giving you one last chance. Post a statement right now—clear Meryl's name and apologize to her publicly. Every platform."

Meryl suddenly broke free from his arms, grabbed my hand, and started slapping it against her own face.

"Barbara, I just got my direct-admission spot at Kingsley University. I don't want my future ruined. Hit me, please. If you're angry, just hit me. Kill me if you want. I'm just begging you to let me walk away with my name clean."

She yanked me so hard I stumbled straight into the sharp corner of the coffee table, and the pain blacked out my vision.

But she was the one who let out a piercing scream and collapsed backward. "Ah! Barbara, don't kick me—"

Oscar caught her in an instant, eyes blazing. "Barbara, have you lost your mind? You hit someone right in front of me. Is there anything you won't do?"

He took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen a few times.

The familiar sounds spilled into the room—and every muscle in my body locked. The floor dropped out from under me.

"You promised me. You said if I signed the form giving up my direct-admission spot, you'd delete the video. You lied to me?"

The words ripped out of me raw, my voice cracking, something in my chest crushed so flat I couldn't breathe.

Oscar didn't flinch. His gaze was cold to the point of cruelty. "I gave you a chance. Eye for an eye. Seems fair."

His finger hovered over the send button, poised to press down.

"Don't!" I squeezed my eyes shut, tears of humiliation hitting the floor. "I'll apologize. I'll clear her name."

I opened my account and typed out a confession to crimes I never committed—admitted I'd photoshopped the images out of jealousy toward Meryl, smeared her reputation, and publicly apologized to her.

Less than two minutes. That was all it took for the tide to reverse.

Every drop of filth swung around and came crashing down on me instead.

Oscar smiled, the lazy kind. "I'll let this one slide. Think of it as a lesson learned. You're going to be my wife someday—I'd rather she not be a vicious woman."

He looked down at me—still on the floor, eyes unfocused, not moving—and something in his chest lurched, sudden and wrong, like something slipping out of reach.

A flicker of guilt crept into his voice. "I'll delete the video right now."

He was about to do it when Meryl's face went white and she slumped into his arms. "Oscar, I'm dizzy… I feel terrible…"

He had no choice but to carry her out. At the door, he tossed back a single line: "Think about what you've done. I'm taking Meryl to the hospital. I'll come check on you later."

The door opened and closed, and then there was nothing but silence.

Ten minutes later, my phone screen lit up.

On the other side of town, Oscar had gotten Meryl to the hospital, waited through every exam until the doctors confirmed she was fine, and only then pulled out his phone to call me.

But the moment the screen lit up, he went rigid.

Everywhere—trending, notifications, every timeline he touched—the uncensored, high-definition video from his phone. The video of me.

Comments beneath the post.

"That two-faced slut tried to run, hopped in a car right outside, but people chased her down and she crashed straight into the river. Current's brutal—she's dead for sure. Good riddance."