Vows Beneath The Moon Clown Chapter 05
Early the next morning, my company inbox received a lawyer’s letter.
Veronica accused me of reputation blackmail and malicious harassment, demanding that the company suspend me immediately for investigation.
In less than half an hour, HR called me into a meeting room.
My department manager could not even look at me. He simply pushed the termination notice across the table.
“Ava, it’s not that the company doesn’t want to help. The other side is Veronica, and she has several major clients behind her. We can’t afford to offend her.”
I looked at the notice.
“So there won’t even be an investigation?”
The manager sighed.
“Adults need to be realistic.”
I picked up the pen and signed.
When I walked out, coworkers watched me through the glass.
Some pitied me. Some enjoyed it.
My phone vibrated.
It was my younger brother, Nian Moretti.
His voice trembled.
“Sis, someone reported that I falsified my materials. My adviser told me to suspend my project.”
I stopped walking.
“Don’t be scared. I’ll handle it.”
“Is it because of my brother-in-law?”
I said nothing.
Nian cried.
“Sis, I don’t want the scholarship anymore. Don’t bow your head because of me.”
My throat tightened.
“You did nothing wrong. Why should you quit?”
After hanging up, the hospital called.
My father’s chemotherapy bed had been suddenly moved, and the specialist we had arranged was canceled.
I stood by the road and felt the sky press down on me.
Veronica moved fast.
So fast she clearly had no intention of letting me breathe.
At noon, Adrian sent a message.
Ava, there is still time to turn back. Sign the agreement, and I’ll have Veronica stop.
I stared at the words for a long time and replied with one word.
Go to hell.
That afternoon, Lucia took me to a notary office.
All surveillance footage, recordings, photos, and email sending records were preserved.
At the same time, she submitted a signed complaint to the Mafia Commission, the Justice Department, and Veronica’s family law firm.
The complaint included marital misconduct, forged authorization documents, threats against a party’s family, and abuse of her status as a family lawyer.
By evening, the matter began to spread.
Someone clipped the Luna Park surveillance footage and posted it.
The headline was blunt:
Famous Family Lawyer Becomes Mistress, Forces Legal Wife to Kneel
In the footage, I was pinned to the ground in a moon-clown mascot suit.
Adrian stood in front of Veronica and told me to apologize.
Veronica’s motion of patting my face was enlarged and replayed over and over.
The comments exploded.
“Isn’t this the woman who just buried that ten-million-dollar reputation case?”
“She’s so good at protecting her own reputation, but other people’s dignity means nothing?”
“Doesn’t that man have a wife? Where did the child come from?”
“The worst part is putting someone else’s mother’s keepsake on an illegitimate daughter.”
Soon, Adrian’s identity was exposed too.
He held a seat at a psychological trauma charity foundation.
For five years, he had publicly claimed to suffer from long-term intimacy trauma, using that image to take interviews and endorsements.
People dug up an old interview.
In the video, his eyes were red as he said, “My wife respects me very much. Ours is more of a spiritual companionship.”
The comments mocked him mercilessly.
“Spiritual companionship with the wife, physical companionship with the family lawyer?”
“Using illness to build an image. Impressive.”
“People with real trauma are harmed by people like you.”
At ten that night, Adrian finally called.
He was sobbing so hard he could barely breathe.
“Ava, you posted the surveillance?”
“It wasn’t me.”
I was telling the truth.
Once the materials were submitted, someone would naturally leak them.
But he did not believe me.
“Who else could it be? My father and stepmother know now. The foundation has suspended my position. Are you satisfied?”
My voice was calm.
“This is only the beginning.”
His voice sharpened.
“Are you trying to force me to die?”
“I forced you?”
I laughed.
“Adrian, when you threatened me with my father’s hospital bed, did you think you might force me to die? When you handed my brother’s future to Veronica for her to hold hostage, did you remember I was a person too?”
Only crying came from the other end.
After a long time, he whispered, “Ava, I was wrong. I really was wrong. Withdraw the lawsuit. I’ll sign. I’ll return everything.”
“Too late.”
I hung up.
Less than five minutes later, Veronica called.
She no longer pretended to be gentle. Her voice was dark and cold.
“Ava, you want to play with tabloids and street rumors? Then let’s see who dies first.”
At midnight, another surveillance clip appeared on an underground forum.
In it, I lunged at Veronica at Luna Park.
The caption read:
Obsessive Wife Harasses Traumatized Husband, Attacks Innocent Family Lawyer in Public
They cut away everything that happened before.
Only my loss of control remained.
Then accounts began pushing the story everywhere.
They said I had controlled Adrian for years.
They said he was too afraid of me to divorce.
They said Veronica was only his lawyer and therapeutic companion.
Most absurdly, they claimed the child had been adopted by Adrian.
I read the inverted lies and laughed.
Veronica was indeed best at turning black into white.
But she had forgotten something.
This time, I held more than one recording.