They Voted Me Out After Fifteen Years Together Chapter 08

They Voted Me Out After Fifteen Years Together Chapter 08

At noon, Dax called Gideon’s office.

Gideon put it on speaker.

Dax’s voice scraped raw.

“Where is Sable?”

I said nothing.

He got frantic.

“She’s that injured. Why is she still posting this stuff? The internet is just going to tear her apart

again.”

Gideon said, “Mr. Vance. Compared to a car accident and systematic defamation, the truth isn’t

harmful.”

Long silence on the line.

Dax said, “I need to see her.”

“Ms. Holbrook refuses.”

“I’m her boyfriend.”

Gideon turned a page.

“In the videos your friends posted publicly, they refer to her as your ex. Mr. Vance. Please get your

story straight.”

The call ended. Tess laughed once. Then her eyes went red.

At three in the afternoon, I posted the second video. Apartment security footage.

Willa picking up my tin box.

Bree stepping on the photos.

”

Dax holding Willa. Telling me to post a statement confessing I was the crazy ex.

The footage had no sound.

I paired it with the audio recording from that day.

My own voice. Quiet.

“You want me to publicly admit I was the one who wouldn’t let go?”

Dax’s silence.

“Just for now.”

Those words hit the internet and the trending topics went nuclear:

#Just For Now#

#Final Footage Before Sable Holbrook’s Car Accident#

#Willa Marsh Never Signed A Marriage License #

People started asking:

[I thought she was the new wife. Where’s the marriage certificate?]

[Gave Willa the wedding. Still planned to give Sable the certificate. Is this guy wholesale distributing lives?]

Willa finally went live.

Eyes red from crying.

“I just loved Dax too much. I didn’t know it would turn into all this.”

“If my existence hurt Sable, I’m willing to step away.”

The bullet chat stopped buying it:

[Step away? Where was that energy when you were throwing her stuff out of her own apartment?]

[Stop crying. Show the marriage certificate.]

Her face went white.

That was when Dax stormed into her livestream.

He didn’t look at the camera. Only at Willa.

“That blogger’s video. Did you have someone post it?”

Willa’s tears froze on her face.

One second of dead silence. Then the chat went insane.

After Willa’s livestream imploded, someone threw gasoline on the fire online.

The wedding blogger cracked first. Posted an apology in the early morning hours.

She said the video came from a friend of Willa’s. The narrative was given to her. She just took

payment and hit publish.

The payment screenshot. The payer was Bree Drexel.

Bree’s name hit the spotlight for the first time.

She panicked. Posted to her social feed that night:

[I just felt sorry for Willa. I never meant to hurt Sable.]

The comments didn’t call her sweet anymore:

[You felt sorry for her so you slandered your own best friend?]

[When you said she had no family to back her up. Where was that pity?]

Daphne didn’t escape either.

People dug up an old email. Eight thousand dollars she’d borrowed from me. Years ago. Said she

was sure I’d be her sister-in-law someday.

The IOU was still in my old inbox.

Gideon asked if I wanted it released.

I nodded.

So the same morning she was posting about me being a crazy ex. By afternoon, her mentions were drowning in debt collectors.

The quietest one was Dax.

He didn’t post anything.

But Tess said he’d gone back to the wedding house.

Stayed inside alone all night.

The building management sent Gideon the security tapes.

On the screen. Dax sitting on the living room floor. Going through the boxes I’d left.

He found the gray scarf. Then he pressed both hands to his face.

Didn’t move for a long time.

I watched one frame. Closed it.

Tess asked, “Sable. Doesn’t it hurt?”

I touched the brace on my ribs.

“Too many places hurt already. Can’t tell one from another.”