The Woman He Chose Over Me

Just because I refused to let my husband, Timothy Blackwood, bring his late friend's widow, Gracie Morgan, home to live with us, he started spreading vicious rumors about me everywhere.

Overnight, my reputation was completely ruined, and scandalous photos of me barely dressed spread all over town.

Customers stormed into my restaurant and dumped food on me in disgust.

"You're disgusting! Who would dare eat here now? Who knows where your filthy hands have been?!"

One shouted, "Restaurant owner during the day, sleeping around in God knows whose bed by night!"

...

Timothy had hired all of these people just to make the rumors seem real.

Crying, I finally agreed to let Gracie move into our home.

I begged Timothy to clear my name, but Timothy kicked me hard in disgust and hissed coldly, "You made Gracie cry for three straight days. Her eyes are swollen from it, so how am I supposed to face my dead friend? This time, you need to learn your lesson."

Later, I became exactly what he wanted, broken down into a harmless nothing who could never threaten Gracie again.

Just when he was about to let up, he got a panicked call from his friend. "Alyssa Winter jumped off a building!"

A burly woman slapped me so hard that I collapsed onto the floor. Her face twisted with rage, and her voice sounded like she wanted to tear me to pieces.

"You little homewrecker! How dare you seduce my husband? Do you have any morals? He barely makes any money, yet he spends every last dollar on a tramp like you!"

My burned hand covered my stinging cheek, and I stared at her in confusion. "I've never seduced your husband, and I don't even know him. Those are all just rumors."

The woman did not believe me, so she crouched and grabbed my chin viciously. Then, she spat right in my face as she sneered.

I kept staring toward the street outside.

Timothy Blackwood passed by the restaurant every evening after work, and it was about the time he usually got off.

Just when I felt like I could not hold on anymore, Timothy finally walked past the door. I staggered to my feet, pushed the door open, and grabbed his arm.

"Timothy, as long as you're willing to clear my name, I'll disappear from you and Gracie Morgan's lives immediately, okay?"

I still held on to hope, refusing to believe that after 10 years of marriage, he could be this heartless toward me.

Timothy frowned, yet there was not a hint of softness in his eyes. "I never wanted you to leave me. I just wanted you to learn your lesson."

He added, "Alyssa Winter, you were cruel enough to refuse to let Gracie move into our home, forcing a pregnant woman to live all alone. So, I'm going to make you experience how hard life is for women."

At that moment, the restaurant customers followed the burly woman outside.

Timothy shoved me back into the pit without a second thought.

The woman threw a stack of photos at me, hitting my body hard.

She yelled, "Still trying to deny it? This is all the evidence. You're disgusting! You're married, yet you're still playing mistress to my husband."

One photo stuck to the food that stained my clothes. When I picked it up and looked at it, I felt like I had been struck by lightning.

This photo was from college, taken maliciously when someone drugged me at a bar while I was trying to secure Timothy's spot in a study abroad program.

Timothy had nearly risked his life fighting those people just to get the photo back so it would not be spread around. But now, Timothy had printed tens of thousands of copies just to help Gracie vent her anger.

My hands trembled so badly I could barely hold the photo.

I turned to look at Timothy with bloodshot eyes. "You... spread this photo?"

Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

All the other photos were AI-generated, so I thought there was still room to fix this. However, this photo was my deepest shame. For a long time after that incident, I lived in darkness and could not even lift my head. It was a ghost that refused to pass in peace.

"Say something!" I sobbed and screamed.

My pitiful state seemed to move him slightly as his expression softened. Before he could say anything, a phone call interrupted him.

"Timothy, I really don't know how to thank you for giving the baby and me five beachside villas. Alyssa won't get upset with you when she finds out, will she? If so, you should take them back. I don't want to affect your relationship."