After I was assaulted, I reported it to the police immediately. But on the day of the trial, the one defending the accused was my lawyer husband, Ethan Price. As soon as court was in session, he directly played the video of my assault. Then he spoke, calm and measured: "Ms. Hart, on the night of the incident, did you deliberately wear no underwear and put on a deep V-neck red dress with a thigh-high slit to seduce my client?" "Did you knowingly drink ten glasses of hard liquor despite being aware of your low alcohol tolerance?" "Is it true that your inability to conceive due to your chaotic private life has caused you psychological distortion, leading you to try to destroy an innocent 18-year-old college student through false accusations?" Every eye in the courtroom stabbed at me like needles. In the gallery, Ethan's first love, Lily Smith, cried pitifully, as if she were the victim. "Clara, Jason is my brother! I know you're jealous of me, but you can't strip naked to seduce him just to get revenge on me, then accuse him of rape!" Ethan gently pressed her trembling shoulder. I sat in the witness stand, hands and feet ice cold. Seven years ago, when I was sexually harassed, Ethan defended me in court: "Should a woman be assaulted just because she drinks, wears a dress, or is alone?" Back then, he was righteously indignant. But now, every word he spoke was a knife stabbing into me.
The moment the big screen lit up, all the blood in my body went cold. On the screen was a surveillance screenshot from the hotel corridor. In the image, I wore a red dress, exposing large areas of skin. My steps were unsteady, half my body leaning against Jason Smith. Most glaring of all, from this angle, my hand appeared to be actively draped over his shoulder. The gallery erupted in an uproar. Ethan raised his hand, pointing at the screen. "Please observe, ladies and gentlemen. Ms. Hart not only failed to scream for help, her body was even cooperating with my client's movements." "This is clearly playing hard to get." My throat tightened, filled with the taste of blood. "I didn't! I was drugged. I didn't even have the strength to speak." "I said no." Ethan looked up at me, then quickly averted his gaze. His voice turned cold, as if forcefully suppressing his emotions. "Drugged?" "Ms. Hart, a woman dressed like a prostitute in the middle of the night, drunk out of her mind, voluntarily entering a hotel with a young man." "What gives you the right to claim you were forced?" A roar exploded in my ears. I felt like I was being stripped naked in public. Ethan's body stiffened imperceptibly for a moment. His gaze fell on my ashen face. In that instant, I saw his Adam's apple bob. As if he finally realized what he had just said. But soon, he looked away. He remained the calm, ruthlessly effective defense attorney. I bit my lip hard, my mouth filling with the taste of blood. That red dress was a gift from Lily. She had said, "Clara, you always dress too plainly. Tonight is Ethan's celebration dinner. You should dazzle him." I hadn't wanted to wear it. It was Ethan who personally helped me zip it up. He had laughed softly then. "My wife looks most beautiful in a red dress. Clara, don't always worry about people looking at you. You're gorgeous." But now, he said I dressed like a streetwalker. I looked at him, suddenly finding him utterly foreign. Like someone was forcing the nightmare from seven years ago back onto me. Back then, I was a newcomer in the workplace, nearly sexually assaulted by my boss. When everyone was saying I must have been "seducing my boss to climb the ladder." It was Ethan who personally told me it wasn't my fault. The opposing lawyer had pointed at my nose. "Ms. Hart, why didn't you scream immediately?" "Why didn't you flee the office at once?" "Were you actually just being coy?" It was him who stood up to shield me. "Objection!" "You cannot deny the harm my client suffered just because she didn't resist in the way you imagine." That day, I cried uncontrollably in court. Because finally, someone was telling everyone. I wasn't at fault. I was just afraid. But today, the perpetrator had become his first love's younger brother. So Ethan personally forced the words "you deserved it" down on me.
I looked at him, my voice soft. "Ethan, you didn't used to say things like this." His fingers holding the documents paused. Just for an instant. The next second, he pulled out a file. *Psychiatric Intervention Records.* My heart plummeted. Those were my psychological treatment records from seven years ago. The wound I least wanted anyone to see. Those nights when I trembled, screamed, bathed repeatedly, scrubbing my skin until it bled. I couldn't let men near me, couldn't enter any enclosed space. It was Ethan who took me to see a psychologist. Every time we left the therapy room, he would hold me in his arms, kissing my forehead again and again. "Don't be afraid, Clara." "I'll protect you for the rest of my life." Back then, I had entrusted him with my most raw, most broken self. But now, he was tearing open my scars and displaying them before everyone. Ethan opened the file, his voice devastatingly calm. "Your Honor, Ms. Hart underwent long-term psychiatric intervention seven years ago." "This included stress reactions to male contact and severe victim tendencies." My blood instantly ran cold. "You're lying..." My voice trembled. "Those are my private records. How could you..." Ethan didn't look at me. "She repeatedly described in her sessions how she would mistake normal male contact for assault even when there was no actual danger." "Therefore, we have reason to suspect that on the night of the incident, influenced by alcohol, past trauma, and marital stress, she experienced cognitive distortion." The gallery exploded. "Cognitive distortion? So she has mental problems?" "Oh my god, she's had this kind of case before." "Isn't this just victim delusion?" My body began to shake. Ethan finally looked up at me. His fingers gripped the case file so tightly his knuckles turned white. But the next second, Lily sobbed softly. He turned back to the judge. "Furthermore, we have evidence that Ms. Hart has had long-standing conflicts with Ms. Lily." He pulled out another set of materials. "Ms. Lily was repeatedly verbally attacked by Ms. Hart. Ms. Hart believed that Ms. Smith was destroying her marriage." "Especially after learning of Ms. Smith's pregnancy, Ms. Hart's emotional instability became even more severe." The big screen displayed several screenshots of conversations between Lily and me. Context removed, only my seemingly harsh words remained. [Stay away from Ethan.] [You know he's married.] [Lily, what exactly do you want?] Ethan read them out coldly. "This is sufficient proof that Ms. Hart harbors intense hostility toward Ms. Lily." I looked at those screenshots, my whole body going cold. "It wasn't like that..." "She was the one who sent me photos of her and Ethan watching fireworks together in the middle of the night." "She told me children can't grow up without fathers." "She said Ethan would eventually come back to her." Lily immediately shook her head, crying. "I never said that! Clara, why are you slandering me like this?" She covered her belly with one hand, tears streaming down her face. "I only told you that children are innocent. I never thought about taking Ethan away!" "Jason and I lost our parents when we were young. He's my only family." "Now I'm pregnant and have no other relatives to depend on. I'm just so scared." Ethan continued his questioning: "Did you publicly insult the child in Ms. Lily's womb at the hospital prenatal examination area?" I clenched my hands. That time, Lily had told me Ethan was in trouble. When I arrived at the hospital, I discovered Ethan was accompanying her for a prenatal checkup. She leaned on Ethan's shoulder, gently touching her belly. "Ethan, do you think the baby will look more like you or more like me?" I stood there like a joke. I only asked her, "Lily, is this really necessary?" But now, all of this had become evidence of my jealousy. I looked toward the gallery. My mother sat there. Her face was frighteningly pale, her eyes terribly red. She, such a strong woman, had held me and cried until she couldn't stand after that case seven years ago. Later, when Ethan appeared, he knelt before my mother and promised. "Ma'am, I will protect Clara. I won't let anyone hurt her again." But today, she watched as the man who had promised to protect me personally stripped me bare for everyone to see. My mother suddenly stood up. "Ethan, are you even human?" "Seven years ago, how did you promise me?" "Now you're using her medical records, using her wounds, using her inability to have children, to exonerate someone else?" "Ethan, how can you do this?" Ethan's face instantly went white. He stood there, unable to say a word. I looked at my mother's back, my heart aching in waves.
After the first trial session ended, my mother held me tightly, helping me out of the courthouse. Reporters blocked the entrance, flashbulbs blinding me. Microphones shoved into my face one after another. "Ms. Hart, did you deliberately strip naked to seduce Lily's brother because you were jealous she's pregnant with Attorney Price's child?" "I heard you weren't even wearing underwear that night. Are you a sex addict? Sexually frustrated?" "Seven years ago you used this kind of thing to create hype. Now you're trying to blackmail a 20-year-old male college student. Isn't this false accusation?" "Is this your mother? Does she know how promiscuous you are?" I was jostled and stumbled. Someone took advantage of the chaos to grab my sleeve. The fabric tore, exposing my shoulder and a large portion of my chest. Countless flashbulbs went crazy, accompanied by men's suggestive laughter and whistles. "Wow, so slutty, no wonder the guy couldn't help himself!" Nausea churned in my stomach. My mother frantically shielded me, covering my body. "Get away! You bastards! Are you even human?" In the chaos, someone shoved her hard. My mother's forehead hit the sharp corner of a pillar at the courthouse entrance. Blood pooled on the ground. In the end, only the intervention of court security allowed us to leave. That night, the doorbell rang. Outside stood Ethan and a pregnant Lily. The moment I saw them, my mother's expression changed. "What are you doing here!" Lily looked at me, tears in her eyes. "Clara, I'm apologizing on my brother's behalf. But Jason is only 20 years old. He's never even been in a relationship. He really thought when you dressed like that you were... lonely..." "He said when he touched you, you responded to him. You didn't resist at all! How can you pull up your pants and call the police, trying to ruin his whole life?" My head exploded. I stared at her. "What did you say? I was drugged, my whole body was in spasms, and you say it was consensual?" Lily, frightened, burrowed into Ethan's arms. "Ethan, I'm scared... Is Clara's mania acting up again..." My mother slapped Lily across the face. "Shut your mouth!" Ethan pulled Lily behind him, looking at my mother with a darkened expression. "Lily is pregnant. You shouldn't have hit her." Then he looked at me and sighed. "Clara, drop the charges." Hearing those three words, my heart was still pierced. Though I had guessed it would come to this, hearing it aloud still hurt. "As long as you sign to drop the charges, we won't pursue charges of false accusation against you." "If you keep making trouble, it won't benefit you. You can't handle it." I looked at him, suddenly finding this man before me very strange. "Ethan, are you worried I can't handle it?" "Or are you threatening me that if I don't drop the charges, you'll use public opinion to destroy me?" His expression shifted slightly. "That's not what I meant." My mother pointed at the door, her voice trembling. "Get out! Both of you, get out of my house!" She clutched her chest, her body swaying. I screamed and caught her. Ethan also instinctively stepped forward, wanting to help. I looked up sharply and pushed him away. "Ethan, don't touch my mother!" He froze in place. My mother leaned against me, her face deathly pale, forehead covered in cold sweat. I frantically dialed for an ambulance. Ethan stood in the doorway, showing panic for the first time. "Clara, I..." I held my mother, trembling all over. "Take Lily and get out of my house! If anything happens to my mother, I'll never forgive you!" Ethan's lips moved. But in the end, he couldn't say a word. My mother's hands grew colder and colder. I suddenly realized Ethan hadn't come to persuade me to drop the charges. He had come to push the last person protecting me to her death too.
The next day, as I stayed with my mother at the hospital, the trending topics exploded. When I opened my phone, my name was everywhere. [Renowned Attorney's Wife is a Sex-Addicted Lunatic!] [Infertile Woman Jealous of Husband's Pregnant First Love Seduces and Falsely Accuses 18-Year-Old Boy!] Every word was like a nail, driven into my body one by one. Someone had dug up photos from that night. Red dress. Deep V-neck. High slit. The photos were maliciously enlarged. People circled my chest and legs. Adding filthy captions, turning them into memes. [This slut's dress is slit up to her crotch. Bet she wasn't wearing panties underneath.] [Attorney Price looks at this barren whore every day. No wonder he went back to his first love.] [Poor Lily, pregnant and still having to deal with revenge from this crazy bitch.] The torrent of obscene abuse online continued until the day of the second trial. That day, the sky was so overcast it seemed about to collapse. Lily still sat in the front row. Jason sat in the defendant's seat, looking like an innocent young man awaiting judgment. Ethan stood up, even calmer than the last time, and more ruthless. On the big screen played private footage from my therapy sessions. From three months ago, me leaning in his arms, tearfully dissecting my deepest pain: "Ethan, ever since Lily came back, I feel like I'm going to lose you... I can't give you children. Will you stop wanting me...?" This moment of complete vulnerability and dependence I had shown him became the iron-clad evidence he used to exonerate a rapist. Ethan held a laser pointer, aiming at the screen showing me in tears. "Your Honor! Ms. Hart suffers from severe jealous delusions and depression!" "Because of her own infertility, she harbors deep resentment toward the pregnant Ms. Lily. On the night of the incident, she deliberately wore a revealing deep V-neck red dress, voluntarily drank ten glasses of hard liquor, and used the effects of alcohol and psychiatric medication to seduce my client's brother into a room!" "All of this was a carefully planned scheme to get revenge on Ms. Lily!" I sat in the witness stand, my throat full of the taste of blood. They examined my hemline, my womb, my shattered psychiatric records with a magnifying glass. But not one person asked me how much pain, how much despair I felt when I was pinned to the bed and my clothes were torn. Ethan coldly closed the case file. "The defense respectfully requests that the court fully consider the instability and potential subjective malice in Ms. Hart's testimony, and dismiss all accusations from this woman!" Potential subjective malice. In the gallery, Lily covered her belly and let out a long sigh of relief. A victorious smile curved her lips. I closed my eyes. During the recess before the verdict was announced, I went to the restroom. Just as I reached the corridor corner, Jason came from the other direction. He stopped in front of me, his voice very low. "Clara, your husband is even more impressive than I thought. I slept with you, and not only isn't he angry, he's getting me acquitted." Blood rushed to my head. I raised my hand to hit him, but he immediately stepped back. The next second, Lily appeared. "Jason!" She pulled Jason behind her, looking at me with wariness all over her face. "Clara, are you trying to assault someone at the courthouse?" I bit my lip hard to keep from vomiting. The recess ended. The court was about to announce the verdict. Everyone stood, waiting for the judge's final decision. Just then, Ethan's phone on the desk vibrated. It was his most trusted private investigator. He glanced down. [Attorney Price! New surveillance footage has been found! Ms. Hart was absolutely not willing! She was force-fed a strong sedative and dragged in! Ms. Lily was in the room... She personally undressed Ms. Hart!] Ethan's head snapped up, his eyes boring into Lily.
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