Semua Bab Married To My Best Friend's Husband[Plead To God]: Bab 41 - Bab 50

[VICTORIA'S POV]Sterling's report arrives at 11 PM. I pour myself a glass of wine and open the file on my laptop. Eight pages. That's it?I paid fifty thousand dollars for eight pages? I start reading.Subject: Alessia Reed Walker. Age 37. Clean criminal record. No arrests. No scandals. Employment history stable. Financial records unremarkable.I scroll faster.Interviews conducted with former colleagues, friends, neighbors. Universal consensus: Subject is responsible, hardworking, ethical.This is useless. I keep scrolling then I see it. Photos of Alessia at a bar. Drink in hand. Smiling.The caption underneath: Finally letting loose after the worst week ever. Cheers to forgetting.Date: Eight years ago.I check the timeline Sterling included.Eight years ago, Alessia would have been four months pregnant with Alexander.Pregnant.And drinking.I zoom in on the photo. The drink in her hand looks like whiskey. Or bourbon. Something dark.Not water. Not juice.Alcohol.There are mor

[ALEXANDER'S POV]Something's wrong at school today.I notice it the second I walk into the classroom.Kids stop talking when they see me. They whisper. Point.Emma, who usually sits next to me, moves to a different desk."Emma?" I call. "What's wrong?"She doesn't answer. Just looks down at her book.Mrs. Patterson starts class. "Alright everyone, take out your math homework."I pull out my homework. Try to focus on the problems.But I can hear the whispers behind me."That's him.""His mom is the one from the news.""My dad said she's a bad person."I turn around. "What are you talking about?"Tommy leans forward. The same kid who asked me about the news before."Your mom. The one who drinks. Everyone's talking about it.""Alessia doesn't drink. You're lying.""I'm not lying. It was on TV. My mom showed me. There were pictures.""What pictures?""Pictures of your mom at a bar. Drinking. While she was pregnant."My face gets hot. "That's not true.""Yes it is. They showed it on the n

[SANDRA'S POV]The guard lets me use the phone thirty minutes after Jeffrey leaves.One call. Five minutes maximum.I dial Victoria's number from memory.She answers on the first ring."Sandra! I was just about to call you. You won't believe what I'm planning next. There's this journalist from—""Stop."She goes quiet. "What?""Stop whatever you're planning. Stop the press conferences. Stop attacking Alessia. Stop all of it.""Are you serious right now?""Yes.""Sandra, I'm trying to help you. I'm fighting for you when no one else will.""I know. And I appreciate it. But you need to stop.""Why? Because Jeffrey came to visit you? Because he threatened you?"My stomach drops. "How did you even know about that?""I have people watching who visits you. I needed to know if anyone was trying to get to you or trying to make you turn against me.""You're having me watched?""I'm protecting you! And clearly I was right to do it because Jeffrey got to you. What did he threaten you with?"I clo

[ALESSIA'S POV]My phone wakes me up at 6 AM, not the alarm but calls and it's dozens of them.I reach for it with my eyes still closed. Hit decline without looking, It rings again immediately.Again and again. Jeffrey stirs beside me. "What's going on?""I don't know."I finally look at the screen. Forty-three missed calls and sixty-two text messages all from the last two hours.Diana, claire, my mother and people I haven't talked to in years.All saying the same thing:Have you seen the news? Call me ASAPI'm so sorry. This is terribleMy hands start shaking."Jeffrey, something's wrong." He sits up and grabs his own phone and his face goes pale. "What?" I ask. "What is it?"He doesn't answer, he just hands me his phone. The screen shows a tabloid article."News Anchor Alessia Reed Tried to Have Ex-Husband Declared Mentally Unfit: Exclusive Documents Reveal Pattern of Manipulation"I read the headline three times before it sinks in.Then I scroll down.They published the sealed documen

[VICTORIA'S POV]The video has been viewed five million times in less than twenty-four hours.I watch it again for the twentieth time today.That kid. Davison Walker. Twelve years old,Sitting in his bedroom. Looking directly at the camera with those big, earnest eyes.Telling "his truth."Defending his mother and making me look like a monster."My mom is not a manipulator. She's not a bad person. She's a hero."Hero. The word makes me want to throw my laptop across the room.Alessia Reed is not a hero but a woman who gave up her baby and now wants him back.She's a woman who tried to destroy her ex-husband's reputation.She's a woman who's been playing victim for years while everyone else suffers.But people don't see that anymore.They see this video.This perfectly crafted, emotionally manipulative video.And they're eating it up.The comments section is full of support for Alessia."This poor kid has been through so much.""Alessia Reed saved her son's life. She's a hero.""Victori