Chapter 2

"Ethan, are you sure it was last May? Last May I was on a business trip, away for an entire month. Your lie is way too unprofessional!"

I thought revealing this would make Ethan panic.

But unexpectedly, he just laughed dismissively.

"Oh, then maybe I got the time wrong. Anyway, I just got the wrong person, okay? I admitted my mistake, isn't that enough? Stop being so uptight. It's pointless."

He still wouldn't admit he was slandering me.

This perfunctory attitude made my serious self-defense seem utterly ridiculous.

I was about to continue arguing with him when a hand suddenly grabbed my arm.

It was Liam.

I turned to look at him. His expression was terrible.

"That's enough, Harper. You want to make this into an even bigger scene?"

"Ethan already said he got the wrong person. We can talk about this tonight when we get back. The relatives are all here now. Stop making a fuss and let's continue eating."

"Making a fuss?"

I looked at him in disbelief, the hurt welling up inside me.

"Liam, he's slandering me in front of your family. He's also disrespecting you. How can you say I'm making a fuss? It's bad enough you won't help me, but you're actually stopping me?"

My words left Liam speechless, but Ethan behind him wasn't having it.

He suddenly stood up and slammed the table.

"How am I making things up? I'm only holding back out of respect for Liam. You know exactly what kind of work you've done! Stop putting on this act. What's the point?"

I was completely enraged. I shook off Liam's hand and pointed at Ethan.

"Ethan, if you dare slander my personal life again, I'm calling the police!"

Ethan suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard he doubled over.

"You're calling the police? That's hilarious! I should be the one calling the police to report you for marriage fraud against my brother!"

At this point, Mr. Hayes, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

"Ethan, you keep saying Harper used to be a masseuse. Do you have any evidence? You need evidence to make such claims."

Ethan seemed to have been waiting for this question. He immediately revealed a confident smile.

"Since you're asking, Uncle, I won't beat around the bush! I wouldn't say this if I didn't have proof!"

With that, he pulled out his phone, found a photo, walked up to Mr. Hayes, and handed him the phone.

"Uncle, look. This is the photo I took when I ran into her before."

Mr. Hayes frowned and carefully examined the phone.

After just one glance, his expression darkened completely.

Mrs. Hayes saw this and quickly moved closer to look. After just one glance, her face turned deathly pale, her body swayed, and she nearly fainted.

The surrounding relatives also crowded over curiously, passing the phone around. Each person's expression changed from curious to shocked, making clicking sounds of disapproval.

The phone finally reached my hands.

Liam stood beside me as we looked together.

The content left me frozen in place.

There were several photos of me.

In the photos, I wore revealing clothing with a number 18 badge on my chest.

The first two showed me massaging feet and pounding legs.

The later ones were even more explicit—my clothes had been removed, and Ethan lay beside me.

Ethan took his phone back from me and spoke disdainfully.

"Is this evidence enough? I didn't want to make things this ugly, but you're the one who forced me to tell the truth! Are you satisfied now?"