Chapter 10 – Reputation
The first time Beckett broke into my house after the restraining order, he did not come through the door.
He came through reputation.
At 8:12 a.m., three reporters were waiting outside my gate.
By noon, anonymous accounts online were calling Ella unstable, manipulative, dangerous. Old photographs appeared from college parties. Selective text messages. Cropped emails. Beckett’s people were building a story brick by brick.
Not for court.
For public opinion.
Because men like Beckett never stop controlling the room just because a judge tells them to leave it.
Ella found the articles before I could hide them.
She sat at the kitchen island scrolling silently while her daughter slept upstairs. I watched the color drain from her face.
May you like
“They’re saying I’m crazy,” she whispered.
“No,” I replied calmly. “They’re saying they’re afraid.”
