Ever since my best friend, Chloe, got divorced and had nowhere to go, I let her move into my place.
I never imagined she’d try to claim my home as her own.
When I refused, she trashed me online, accusing me of seducing her husband and causing their divorce.
She even claimed I’d swindled all his money to buy my luxury apartment.
The entire internet branded me a toxic bestie, wishing death upon me.
What I never expected was for her ex-husband to step forward, corroborating her lies and claiming I seduced him.
But watching the internet tear me apart,
I couldn’t help but smile.
Chloe sat on my sofa, three stacks of crisp bills clutched in her hand, which she then slapped onto my coffee table.
“Mia, transfer the ownership of this apartment to me. Consider it a testament to our friendship all these years.”
This apartment was worth ten million dollars.
The irony was, just yesterday, I’d pulled some strings and finalized her daughter Lily’s school admission.
I had planned to surprise her over dinner this weekend.
Instead, she’d given me this massive “surprise” first.
“Chloe, do you even hear yourself?”
I set down my water glass, trying to keep my voice calm.
Chloe immediately frowned, the smugness on her face dissolving into annoyance.
“Mia, how good are we? You’re so well-off now; you don’t even need this apartment!”
“But I’m different. Lily is starting school soon, and we can’t do that without a home!”
“Can’t you just understand how hard it is for me as a mom? You wouldn’t refuse to help me with such a small thing, would you?”
I patiently explained, “It’s not that I don’t want to help. But if I agree, this apartment would be legally yours. Even if you’re in a tough spot, you shouldn’t be asking for something like this.”
At that, Chloe shot up, slamming her hand on the coffee table.
“You’re living so comfortably now, what’s wrong with giving me a hand?”
“I think you’re just stingy! Selfish! Terrified I’ll take advantage of you!”
“If I’d known you were like this, I never would have been good to you in the first place!”
Her temper flared like spilled gasoline.
I was still trying to patiently explain when a small figure suddenly darted towards me.
It was Lily, Chloe’s daughter.
She clutched a plastic toy knife, aiming it right at my leg.
“Bad lady! You’re bullying my mommy! I’m going to kill you!”
Lily’s eyes held a viciousness unsettling for her age.
The plastic tip of the toy knife poked my leg.
It didn’t hurt, but it made my stomach churn.
I froze.
Lily’s upbringing had always been rough. Before, she’d snatched toys from other kids and even hit them.
I’d constantly urged Chloe to teach her better.
But Chloe always brushed it off, saying kids would grow out of it.
Now, it was clear: it wasn’t a kid’s problem; it was an adult’s.
“Lily! What are you doing!”
I instinctively pushed her away.
Chloe immediately pounced, shielding Lily in her arms.
“Mia! Are you crazy? Hitting a child?”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm the anger bubbling inside me.
“Don’t you think you should do something about your daughter’s behavior?”
Chloe, however, became enraged, yelling:
“Is Lily wrong? You ARE a bad woman! Bullying us mother and daughter!”
“I’m doing this for Lily’s schooling. As her godmother, can’t you just give me the apartment for her sake?”
I had felt pity for Chloe and Lily, letting them stay here temporarily.
Now, it seemed like a huge mistake.
I sighed in exasperation, “I’m not giving you this apartment. You two need to move out now.”
Chloe’s eyes immediately widened.
“You were the one who let us move in! Now you want to kick us out? No way!”
“Today, you either transfer this apartment to me, or we’re staying here indefinitely!”
She stood in the middle of the living room, hands on her hips, an utterly unreasonable look on her face.
I stared at Chloe’s unreasonable face, a fire blazing fiercely in my chest.
But thinking of our decade-long friendship, I forced myself to calm down.
I tossed and turned all night.
Ultimately, I still softened.
I decided to tell her that Lily’s schooling was already sorted.
Maybe then she would back off a little.
So I grabbed my phone, opening the screenshot of the principal’s reply from yesterday.
But just then, a trending news alert for our city popped up on the top of my screen.
The headline stabbed at my eyes.
“Best Friend Sits on a Million-Dollar Home While Forcing Mother and Daughter onto the Streets.”
My hands trembled as I clicked on the video.
Chloe sat on the living room sofa, her eyes red and swollen from crying.
“I know I don’t have much, and maybe I don’t deserve to be her best friend, but she shouldn’t treat me like this!”
“Not only is she kicking us out, but she also hit my daughter and called her ill-mannered!”
“Most importantly, she seduced my husband. Our divorce? It’s all her fault!”
The comments section exploded, filled with insults aimed at me.
“This woman is too cold-hearted, isn’t she? Does having money make you superior?”
“To be so ruthless after a decade of friendship, who would dare be friends with her?”
“And seducing her best friend’s husband? That’s just disgusting!”
My phone shook in my hand, blood rushing to my head.
Unable to hold back, I stormed to her room door and violently pushed it open.
Chloe was busy replying to comments on her phone.
Seeing me, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes.
“What are you doing here? This is my room, get out!”
I didn’t say a word. I just raised my hand and slapped her across the face.
*SMACK!* The sound was sharp and clear.
That slap was for my decade of genuine friendship, and for her vile slanders.
Chloe clutched her face, stunned for two seconds before she shrieked, “Mia! You dared to hit me?”
Then, she immediately turned her phone towards me, the live comments scrolling wildly.
“OMG! This b*tch is hitting people!”
“So arrogant! Hitting someone live on camera!”
“We have to cyberbully her! Make her pay for bullying people!”
It was then that I realized she had been livestreaming.
She did it on purpose.
She intentionally provoked me to make a fool of me in front of the entire internet!
“Get out! Get out of my apartment, right now!”
Chloe suddenly laughed, a cold, sinister sound.
“How can you afford a million-dollar apartment and live so lavishly? Isn’t it because you seduced my husband? You swindled all his money, and that’s how you bought this place!”
“My husband used to be so good to me. Ever since he met you, he started to act cold! He stopped bringing money home. I bet you took it all!”
“You’re a whore! You specialize in ruining other people’s families and still dare to bully me!”
Chloe had clearly rehearsed her lines, dumping all the blame on me in one go.
With those words, the livestream chat went completely wild, a deluge of insults raining down on me.
I was so furious I could barely breathe.
Just then.
A heavy knock echoed from the front door.
Chloe immediately ran to open it.
The person at the door was indeed Mark, Chloe’s husband.
His face was ashen. He didn’t give me a chance to speak.
He raised his hand and slapped me.
2.
My cheek burned. Mark’s slap was so powerful it felt like my bones would shatter.
Then he roared into the camera:
“Mia! You’re a bloodsucking liar, a manipulative whore who preys on men!”
“This luxury apartment? You clearly bought it with my stolen money! How dare you try to kick us out?”
The livestream comments surged even faster, vile words densely covering the screen.
“It’s true! This woman looks innocent, but she’s so evil underneath!”
“She needs to return the money! Give Chloe justice!”
“Mark, don’t be soft! Today, you get back what’s yours!”
Clutching my burning cheek, I glared at Mark in a fury:
“What nonsense are you spouting?! This apartment was paid for with my parents’ inheritance! It has absolutely nothing to do with you!”
Chloe’s lips curled into a sneer.
“Mia, we’ve been best friends for over a decade. I know how tight your finances were growing up! Better than anyone!”
“Your parents died so young. Back then, you couldn’t even afford college tuition and had to borrow money from me! Where would you get an inheritance?!”
“What can you do besides seducing men and swindling their money?!”
The commotion soon alerted the neighbors.
Several people gathered at the door, starting to gossip about me.
“No wonder she could buy a luxury apartment so young. Her money must be dirty…”
“A girl in her twenties, how could she have such means? Definitely relies on men!”
Their whispers pierced my ears like needles.
“Have you forgotten how I treated you all before?”
I couldn’t help but roar.
Ever since inheriting my parents’ estate, I had genuinely been good to Chloe.
Any designer bag she liked, I’d buy for her the moment I saw it.
The total was easily over a hundred thousand dollars.
When she got married, I gave her a fifty-thousand-dollar cash gift and personally helped decorate her wedding venue.
Mark wanted to buy a BMW and was thirty thousand dollars short.
When Chloe asked me, I transferred the money that very day, without even asking for an IOU.
Even after Lily was born, every time I visited, I bought her clothes and toys, caring more than her own mother.
But now, they were conspiring to slander me.
Chloe scoffed, “You did all that just to seduce my husband, didn’t you?”
“Until you tricked him out of every penny! Forcing him to divorce me!”
Mark held Chloe close, his gaze firm as he addressed the camera:
“Wife, don’t worry! Once this is sorted, I’ll remarry you and make it up to you and Lily!”
“As for a whore like Mia, she just disgusts me now!”
I trembled with rage again.
I couldn’t fathom how they could be so shameless, so utterly vile!
“You two are slandering me, fabricating lies! Aren’t you afraid of the law?!”
“Slander?”
Mark’s face darkened, then he pulled out his phone and played a video.
“Mia, you forced my hand. Now everyone gets to see how you seduced me back then!”
When I saw the video’s content, my pupils constricted.
I gasped sharply.
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