Ditching Me for His 'Soulmate'? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life novel Chapter 67

Chapter 9

Jessica’s audacity was far worse than I had ever imagined.

Just two days later, I found myself out to dinner with a few coworkers when suddenly, a video of my mother exploded across social media, going viral within minutes.

The entire table froze mid-bite, their eyes locked on me, stunned and speechless.

In the footage, my mom appeared utterly disheveled, perched atop an elderly woman dressed in black, slapping her relentlessly.

The scene was brutal—harsh, almost chilling.

The influencer who shared the clip tagged me by name, making it clear that the woman in the video was the mother of Melanie, the rising star in the viral marketing world.

Once, my mother had been the glamorous wife of the CEO of Dawson Corporation.

Now, she was being labeled a “psycho who assaults the elderly.”

But none of those cruel commentators knew the real story.

That “elderly woman” was the mother of our former housekeeper.

After my father passed away and Dawson Corp collapsed into bankruptcy, that housekeeper and her mother turned against us like venomous snakes—they drugged me and tried to force me into marrying their dull-witted son.

My mother nearly lost her sanity in the process. So yes, her slapping that woman was an act of mercy.

Determined to set the record straight, I gathered every scrap of evidence I had saved from those dark days and posted it online, piece by piece, revealing the truth behind the viral video.

Just as the situation began to escalate, my phone rang. It was Ryan.

He told me he’d already brought in the top legal team from his company to defend me.

“Melanie, everyone who’s ever hurt you… they’re going to pay for it,” he promised.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ryan, do you honestly not know who leaked that video?” I asked, my voice steady.

There was silence on the other end.

“Let me say it again, slowly—you’re the only person I ever told about that incident. You had the only backup copy.”

“My team traced it already,” he finally admitted. “It was Jessica who posted it.”

“You expect me to believe you had no idea?” I challenged.

“Or did you want to see me panic and fall apart so you could swoop in like some kind of white knight?” I added, my tone sharp.

His voice cracked. “No! I just wanted you to need me again! Melanie, I want us back together.”

Please.

After all this time, I knew exactly how Ryan’s mind worked.

“You wanted me crawling back to you, Ryan. That’s what turns you on.”

The moment he allowed Jessica to post that video, he became my enemy.

Without hesitation, I wrapped up my work and flew my mother out of the country.

On the day we left, Lauren mentioned that Ryan had gotten into a car accident on his way to the airport.

I asked casually, “He’s not dead, is he?”

“No, but the windshield shattered and the gas tank caught fire,” she replied.

“His left cheek is badly torn—he’ll probably need a skin graft.”

I squeezed my mom’s hand, gazed out at the clear blue sky, and said quietly, “Good to know.”

By the time we touched down, it was 8 p.m. local time.

I switched on my phone, and a message appeared from an unknown number:

“The crash… it hurt so much. Is that why you won’t look at me anymore?”

Without hesitation, I deleted it.

I took my mother’s hand and stepped forward, into a sky scattered with stars.

Everything that had come before? Just a terrible nightmare I was finally waking from.

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Ditching Me for His ‘Soulmate’? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life