Chapter 7

The world turned into a fractured nightmare. The cold, the pain, the terror. It was a blur of primal fear and agonizing helplessness. When I finally escaped, bruised and broken, the sun was a cruel mockery in the sky. I staggered through the city streets, every step an effort, every breath a stab of pain. My mind, mercifully, was numb. I found a hidden corner, away from prying eyes, and collapsed into unconsciousness. The police? Reporting it? The thought was a distant, unreachable echo. All I wanted was to disappear.

Days turned into weeks. Carlton, true to his word, divorced me. The papers arrived, cold and impersonal, through his lawyer. No word from him, no explanation, no apology. Just the finality of it.

Then, Carmen started her public parade. Photos of her and Carlton on a lavish overseas vacation, beaming, hand-in-hand. A new post on her social media: a picture of a divorce certificate, clearly mine, doctored to make it look like she was the wronged party. The caption: "Finally free. After so much pain, my hero is mine. Our journey begins now."

And then, the flood. Her carefully crafted story of a vindictive ex-wife, a mentally unstable woman, a jealous monster who had terrorized her. The media, fueled by Carlton's reputation and Carmen's histrionics, churned out article after article, painting me as the villain. The internet exploded. My name became synonymous with "crazy ex-wife," "stalker," "abuser." My social media was flooded with hate mail, death threats. Anonymous calls, filled with venom, rang my phone off the hook.

I felt nothing. My heart, once a vibrant, beating thing, was now a dead weight in my chest. The pain had reached a crescendo, then simply flatlined. I was numb.

But a flicker of something, a spark of defiance, remained. I wouldn't let them win. I wouldn't let them bury me alive.

I went to a trusted doctor, a female friend who specialized in forensic medicine. I got a full examination, a detailed report of the assault. Then, I filed a police report, not just for the assault, but for the divorce. I was done being silent.

I called Carlton. My last call to him, ever. He answered, his voice faint, distant. "Carlton Mejia."

"It's Alexis."

A brief pause. Then, Carmen's simpering voice in the background, "Who is it, darling? Not that crazy woman again, is it?" Followed by Carlton's tender murmur, "No, sweetie. Don't worry. Just a nuisance."

He hung up. Just like that. No goodbye, no explanation. Just a click of dismissal.

I sighed, a long, weary exhalation. My heart felt like a shriveled prune. He was truly gone.

My fingers, strangely steady, opened my social media app. I started a live stream. My face, pale and strained, appeared on the screen. "Hello everyone," I began, my voice clear and calm, cutting through the buzzing anticipation. "My name is Alexis Castillo. And I'm here to tell you the truth."

I laid it all out. The anniversary discovery. Carmen's diary, with photographic evidence. The miscarriage. Carmen moving into my home. The staged fall. The fake miscarriage. The warehouse. The doctored audio. The assault. Every ugly, brutal detail, presented calmly, rationally, with supporting documents and photos. I showed the forensic report, the police filing.

"Carmen Hodges," I said, my voice rising slightly, "is a con artist. She fabricated a history of abuse to manipulate Carlton, to steal my husband, to steal my life. She orchestrated everything to frame me, to make me look like a deranged villain."

The comments section exploded. Doubt. Disbelief. Then, slowly, a shift. "OMG! That diary is real!" "She's got proof!" "This is insane!" "Carlton Mejia, you bastard!" The tide was turning.

"I'm not doing this for revenge," I stated, looking directly into the camera, my eyes burning with a cold fire. "I'm doing this for my truth. For my dignity. And for the child I lost, because of their lies and cruelty."

I ended the stream. My phone immediately rang. It was Carlton.

"Alexis! What the hell was that?!" he roared, his voice crackling with fury. "You're trying to destroy Carmen! You're trying to kill her with your lies!"

"Lies, Carlton?" My voice was barely a whisper. "Did you even bother to look at the evidence? Did you ever, for a second, consider that I might be telling the truth?"

He was silent for a moment. A long, agonizing silence. My heart fluttered, a tiny, desperate bird trapped in a cage. Please, Carlton. Just one shred of belief. Just one moment of doubt in her, and faith in me.

"Carlton," I began again, my voice trembling, "I was pregnant. I lost our baby. And I was sexually assaulted in that warehouse. I have a brain tumor, a deadly one. Do you believe me?"

His response, when it came, was a death knell. "Alexis," he said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, "you are truly beyond saving. You're completely unhinged. I'm doing this for your own good."

He hung up.

The phone slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor. The last flicker of hope, the last desperate thread connecting me to him, was severed. My world went dark.