He Gave Her My Home So I Took Back My Life Chapter 05
Graham stared for two seconds, then let out a derisive laugh.
“Mateo Ruiz? And you think some outsider can come into Savannah and make a dent?”
My phone rang again. It was Mateo.
I answered, Graham’s cold gaze fixed on me.
“Fire him immediately,” Graham said. “Otherwise, I’ll make sure everyone in this town knows you’re a jealous, unhinged woman who attacked her own family. When that happens, your reputation in Savannah will be finished.”
Then he slammed the door and left.
“I heard him,” Mateo said through the phone. “Nora, don’t be afraid. My team anticipated this.”
There was no hollow reassurance in his voice. Only a plan already in motion.
I looked at the red marks on my wrist and slowly uncurled my fingers.
After I hung up, I opened my laptop.
Over the last fourteen months, there had been ten hotel bookings, ten credit card charges, and every text Graham had sent each time—
*For the good of the family, move out for two days.*
*Just help us put on a show for the child.*
*Last time.*
I took screenshots of all of them, numbered each one, and sent the entire package to Mateo’s PR team, along with the materials from the dinner.
At one in the morning, Graham’s lawyer sent a warning letter, demanding that I stop “defaming the Ashford family.”
Almost simultaneously, a story hit the top of the local news.
*Mrs. Ashford Investigated for Domestic Violence After Public Altercation*
The report included doorbell footage. In the clip, I reached toward Vivian, and in the next frame, she was on the ground. The video had been edited to cut the part where she snapped the necklace, scratched herself, and deliberately fell backward.
I had just opened the comments when the page refreshed.
Mateo’s team had released the full, cloud-stored footage.
In the unedited version, Vivian clawed her own arm, tore the pearls from her neck, and collapsed before I ever touched her.
Online, people began comparing the two videos frame by frame.
“The original timestamp was cut!”
“She scratched herself!”
“The so-called Mrs. Ashford is the dead brother’s widow. What right does she have to wear the legal wife’s family heirloom?”
Public opinion flipped in ten minutes.
The top comment read:
*If Nora Hale is the legal wife, then this wasn’t an investigation. It was a setup.*