Chapter 16
949words
"If you're cool with it, I'll let you go once the live ends."
Gwyneth's face tightened. She stared at Liana, who was about to lose it, and asked, "Are you insane? How can you be so evil?"
Forcing Gwyneth to admit she was the mistress would ruin her name for good. The live replay would get clipped and shared by viewers. If she ever had kids, they'd probably get bullied over those videos.
"That's not happening," Gwyneth said.
Liana grabbed the pocket knife and slashed Gwyneth's face, leaving a streak of blood. The blade cut across her fair skin, causing her to wince, but she didn't make a sound.
"Agree, and I'll leave you alone. Disagree, and I'll keep cutting your face every ten minutes until you do."
Gwyneth watched Liana, who seemed totally mad. "You do realize Asher's about to go bankrupt, right? Is it really worth losing your sanity over a guy who's about to crash?"
"How could he be going bankrupt?" Liana stared at Gwyneth, disbelief in her eyes. "Are you lying to me?"
Gwyneth scoffed. "Go ahead and look it up online."
Liana pulled out her phone and began searching. A few moments later, she slapped Gwyneth, her face twisted with anger. "It's all your fault! If you hadn't caused such a scene and followed us abroad, Asher wouldn't have returned for you, and his company wouldn't have tanked!
"The man I admired for years turned out to be nothing! Gwyneth, this is all your fault! Get on your knees! Now!"
Liana's face contorted with fury.
Gwyneth looked at her and shook her head. "I'm not kneeling to the other woman."
"Fine! Keep poking the bear!" Liana went live.
She lifted the knife and drove it into Gwyneth's stomach.
Gwyneth grunted in pain.
Liana's wild act drained the color from Gwyneth's face, and the viewers were shaken by what they saw. The viewer count shot up to over ten thousand in no time.
Gwyneth glanced at the screen and let out a sigh of relief. She'd been waiting for Liana to go live. If she could hang on until the police arrived, she might be saved.
Liana spiraled further, while Hugh watched the live stream on his phone.
He got worried when he saw someone comment that they'd called the police. "Lia, you might want to cut the stream and head somewhere else. The police are on their way."
Liana narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "You go on. I'll handle whatever happens."
"Lia, quit fighting for now!" Hugh yelled, panic rising in his voice.
"You go ahead," Liana insisted, her eyes bloodshot. "I'm done hiding. Today's my only shot to clear my name."
She knew how destructive the Internet could be. She couldn't take Gwyneth's life, but she could break her mentally. She wanted Gwyneth to see how much of a nightmare her life had been these last few years.
Hugh sighed and stopped convincing her. He grabbed his bag and left.
Liana grabbed the knife and approached Gwyneth again, stabbing her as she yelled, "Gwyneth, you've ruined my life! You're the one who came between me and Asher, made him marry you, and made me wear the stigma of being the mistress!
"Gwyneth, you don't deserve to live!"
She kept plunging the knife into Gwyneth until blood poured from her.
The viewers bought into Liana's act, and before long, they were all bashing Gwyneth.
"Could it be that Gwyneth isn't Asher's wife but the other woman, and Liana's his wife?"
"Seriously, no one would go this far unless they'd been through hell!"
"Looks can be deceiving. Gwyneth is terrifying!"
Gwyneth narrowed her eyes and fought the pain as she tried to get the ropes off her hands. She tried to distract Liana, her voice faltering. "Liana, what goes around, comes around.
"I've known Asher since we were freshmen in high school, while you met him in your first year of college. You know better than anyone who the real mistress is."
She paused, her gaze dropping to her bleeding stomach. She pushed through the pain and continued, "I've always tried to live decently. I never came after you, even though I knew Asher was keeping you around. But you won't leave me alone.
"I didn't go abroad because I was done with Asher. He gave up on you because of what you did. You know exactly why you lost his child."
Gwyneth laid it out calmly, and soon, many viewers who weren't swayed by the drama started siding with her. Even people from their high school days came forward to back her up.
"I was in high school with Asher and Gwyneth. I can vouch that Asher wrote over 90 love letters to her during his freshman year. He was the one pursuing her."
"Honestly, Gwyneth looks a lot more approachable than Liana."
"Liana's damn terrifying if Gwyneth was really the first to know Asher!"
Liana read the comments, her face twisting with anger. She yelled desperately, "You guys don't believe me? I swear I'm not the mistress!"
The harder she fought back, the worse the comments got.
"She looks like a woman on the edge."
"She's freaking me out. It's making me sick."
"I don't think the real wife would be acting like her."
Liana seethed as she stared at the comment section. She glared at Gwyneth, seated in the chair, and barked, "You'd better explain this! Tell them the truth!"
