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391words
They could dodge me,but not the law.
For skipping the bill,Ryan and Tom were hauled off too.
The whole family,all in the station, full house.
The moment Linda was taken under detention,her lifelong arrogance crumbled.
With solid evidence,she faced charges for intentional property damage.
Since my mom's bracelet was a registered family antique,she was also charged with destroying cultural artifacts.
Combined,even a light sentence meant about five years.
Linda fainted on the spot.
For her,Ryan camped at my doorstep,demanding me to drop the case.
"My mom's sixty-five—she can't handle five years.She knows she's wrong now.Can't you let her go?"
So,she breaks the law but wants no jail or payment?
Outrageous.
I refused."You think I'm an idiot or a saint?"
But he wouldn't quit,stalking me.
He followed me everywhere,stole my takeout,spit in it,and tried to pick my lock at night,threatening,"Emma,I'll be inside your house before you know it...Want to regret this forever?"
He didn't know I had moved to a new place my dad arranged.
I collected evidence of his harassment and rented my old place to construction workers for free.
When he cracked the code,bursting in yelling,"Finally!I'll make you pay!"
He woke a dozen burly,exhausted workers,angrier than wraiths.
That night,if I hadn't called the police to arrest him for disturbing social order,he wouldd have been the one regretting forever.
I thought that was the end.
But while preparing my lawsuit,my phone was bombarded with sleazy calls at night,asking about"services"and prices.
At first,I ignored it.
Then acquaintances gave me odd looks.
"Your family's rich—why do that kind of work?"
Confused,I saw a website with AI-generated explicit images with my face,my contact info plastered on it.
My old landlord called,saying I'd littered"business cards"and was evicted,sending photos of my face on lurid flyers in the building's elevator.
I was livid.
Who hated me this much?
Then it hit:only my ex had so many of my photos.
Ryan,who studied computer science in college,could easily build a site and fake images.
I asked a mutual friend to probe.
He didn't admit it but gloated,"Emma shouldn't have crossed me—she deserved it!She lost her reputation,sure, but my mom's losing her freedom.Her fault!"
Reading his texts,I clenched my fists,nails digging into my palms.
My fault?
My only mistake was not suing them all sooner.
I wouldn’t let up them, not this time.
