Chapter 2
At dawn, before my parents had woken up, I went out for a jog to clear my head. When I returned and finished a light breakfast with them, I excused myself and went back to my room, intending to get a few more hours of sleep.
I had just drifted off when someone shook me awake.
“Maya, is this what you meant by going out to cool off? Eight men in one night–damn it! You fucking slut!”
That voice. That tone. My eyes snapped open. Hearing those exact words again, spoken in the same raw fury, felt like crashing into a wall.}
“Wha… what do you mean?” I managed to say. My voice trembled without my realizing it.”
Sean stood at the foot of my bed, his face contorted with rage. This wasn’t the gentle, patient man I had married. This was a storm–cold and merciless.
“You’re seriously asking me what I mean? Look at this!” he shouted, his voice shaking. He threw his phone onto the bed. “Your video is all over the internet–I can’t even show my face to anyone now!“}
I reached for the phone with shaking fingers. The screen lit up.
It was the same video. My flushed face. My body moving to music in a hotel room surrounded by men.”
My skin instantly turned cold, the blood draining from my limbs as a familiar sense of dread swallowed me whole. The nightmare had repeated itself.
Beneath the video, the comments were just as vicious as I remembered.”
[Whose daughter is this? Whose wife? If she were mine, I’d strangle her.]}
[What a whore. Those men clearly aren’t picky.]@
[Ugh, look at that tongue. I’d rather have her lick a toilet–wait, no, that’d dirty the toilet.]
[I heard her parents are teachers? Unbelievable. Don’t let your kids near them–who knows what they teach at home.]}
My full name. Our home address. My parents‘ workplace. All laid bare in the comments section like some public bulletin board. The doxing was happening again and everything was unraveling.”
Then, came the private messages.
[How much to sleep with you?]}
[Didn’t think you were this wild. Wanna meet next time?]}
[Babe, stairwell or copy room–your pick.]
[I’ve got a buck and ten bros. What do you say?]
Each line was filthier than the last. I felt my stomach turn as nausea rose in my throat. My hands shook as I gripped the edge of the blanket, fighting the urge to scream.}
None of it made sense.
I had been at home. I hadn’t left my parents‘ apartment since yesterday. How could this happen again?}
Desperate, I turned toward the door. I needed my parents to see this, to speak for me. But the apartment was silent. They must’ve gone out for groceries like they always did on weekends.
“I didn’t do this,” I said weakly, eyes pleading. “Sean, I was here all night.”
He stared at me like he was looking at a stranger. “I’m done listening to your bullshit,” he growled.”
I dialed the police with trembling fingers. They arrived quickly and just like before, took us to the hotel for investigation.”
The same pattern junfolded.}
Surveillance footage showed me checking into the hotel just after midnight. Then, one by one, the men arrived. And each time, I opened the door. Sometimes I flung myself into their arms, sometimes I leaned seductively against the frame as if I’d been waiting. There wasn’t the slightest indication that I was forced.§
The footage stretched until nearly dawn. At 5 a.m., I walked out of the hotel alone, hair tousled, makeup smudged, exhaustion etched into my expression.}
“The surveillance and video files show no signs of editing,” one of the officers confirmed calmly.
I heard Sean suck in a sharp breath beside me.
When I turned, his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned bone–white. His jaw trembled. His eyes, bloodshot and burning, locked onto mine.
“Maya,” he said, his voice cracking. “It’s all there. What more do you want me to believe? That this is some kind of deepfake? You’re not just cheating–you’ve dumped a bucket of shit over my head!”
His words sliced into me like a blade. But I forced myself to breathe, to think. I couldn’t panic. If I lost control now, I’d have no way to claw myself out of this.
My gaze dropped to my arm. There, near the bend of my elbow, was a faint red bump–just a mosquito bite.
A sudden thought struck me.
“Look!” I cried out, lifting my arm. “There’s nothing on my body! Not a single bruise or mark! If I’d really been with that many men like the video shows, how could I look like this?”
