1 My college roommate, Chloe Reed, went on a trip and immediately hogged the priority seat reserved for expectant mothers. What's worse, she pointed at a pregnant woman and cursed her, wishing for a stillborn child, claiming such a birth would be nothing but a waste of national resources. In the video, Chloe, wearing a black mask, stood with hands on her hips, loudly proclaiming herself Serena Sterling, the sole heiress of Sterling Holdings. With a mere flick of her finger, she declared, she could crush a low-intellect woman like the pregnant woman. When bystanders filmed her appalling behavior and posted it online, she masterfully deflected all blame onto me, shifting the public's fury in my direction. She then went live, posing as my college roommate, emphatically identifying me as the aggressive student in the video. As a result, I was doxxed, all my private information laid bare for the world to see. Lost in a daze, as I sought comfort from my boyfriend, I was suddenly yanked into a van, brutalized by strangers, and left for dead. In my dying moments, my fallen phone flickered to life, showing Chloe's livestream. She was denouncing me, claiming I deserved my fate, raking in countless followers and skyrocketing to internet fame. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day my roommate had verbally abused the pregnant woman. … My college roommate, Chloe, had claimed she was suffering from depression and had begged me to accompany her on this trip to clear her head. She feigned thirst, asking me to grab her a drink, which conveniently got me off the bus. On the bus, she'd taken the priority seat for expectant mothers. When a fellow passenger called her out for not giving it up, she immediately spun around and started an argument with the pregnant woman. “I can't stand you pregnant women. It's not my kid you're carrying, so why should I give you special treatment?” Chloe sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. “Think about your baby, for crying out loud! You shamelessly hog public resources, aren't you afraid of having a miscarriage?” She continued, her voice rising in a grating crescendo, “Why should pregnant women get special treatment? What's wrong with me speaking up? If you want to be treated equally in the workplace, then you should expect the same out here in reality. Your husband got you pregnant. He and his family, even your own family, can spoil you. But we're strangers; what makes you think I owe you anything? Honestly, is being pregnant some kind of badge of honor?” Chloe wore a baseball cap and a black mask that completely obscured her small face. Only the venomous, biting words, spewing from behind her mask as she stood with hands on her hips, betrayed her as a young woman. The pregnant woman's face drained of color. She shakily gripped the handrail beside her. “You're in a priority seat. What's wrong with me asking you to move? Are you pregnant, too?” Chloe rolled her eyes in annoyance, then launched into a petulant rant. “It's not my kid you're carrying, so don't try to guilt-trip me. I don't have any morals to begin with! And don't you have a husband? Did I make your belly big? And honestly, they shouldn't even have these damn priority seats to begin with, got it? If you don't like riding the bus, tell your husband to buy you a car! You're out here running around all day—be careful you don't pop out a stillborn!” Their shouting drew the attention of other passengers, one of whom, an older woman, couldn't stand Chloe's belligerence any longer. “You're a perfectly healthy young girl, what right do you have to hog a pregnant woman's seat? And to curse her? How can you be so malicious?” “Me malicious?” Chloe shrieked, incredulous. She shot up, and before anyone could react, she swiftly delivered two sharp slaps across the pregnant woman's face. “Did you see that? That's not malice. That's a bus vigilante, specifically here to sort out people like you, who exploit the guise of a 'vulnerable group' to guilt-trip ordinary folks!” Chloe pulled out her phone and started a livestream. It was at this very moment that I, too, reopened my eyes, reborn. I instinctively checked my own phone, just in time to see Chloe shove her screen right into the pregnant woman's face. “Hey, folks! Check out this shameless piece of trash! Got knocked up and now she's parading around on a public bus, expecting special treatment. Does she think everyone's her sugar daddy?” Chloe was a small-time influencer with over 200,000 followers. The moment she went live, her fans swarmed. Within minutes, tens of thousands had flooded her stream, the viewership numbers skyrocketing. The pregnant woman frantically tried to shield her face. “You're violating my privacy rights…” But before she could finish, Chloe seized a handful of her hair, yanking her head back, forcing the woman's face completely into the livestream frame. “Privacy rights? A shameless hussy like you talks about privacy? Perfect! Today, everyone gets to see what kind of trash you really are!” Chloe paused, her voice drawling, slow and deliberate, as she scanned the pregnant woman's designer clothes with her phone. “Big belly, all alone, cramming onto a public bus… Tsk, tsk, tsk. Dressed head-to-toe in luxury brands, too. I bet she's some rich guy's mistress on the side, isn't she? Ladies, you better go home and check on your husbands! She might be the other woman!” The pregnant woman, enraged, laughed bitterly. She stopped trying to shield herself from the camera, her eyes blazing with a fierce warning. “I was going easy on you because you're a young girl, but you're really pushing it. Do you know who my husband is…?” Before she could finish, Chloe delivered another brutal slap across the pregnant woman's face, sending her staggering back several steps before she finally stumbled and collapsed to the floor. 2 The pregnant woman sat on the floor, her face contorted in agony. A dark, crimson liquid began to seep slowly from between her legs. The crowd, initially content to watch the spectacle, stirred uneasily at the sight, some murmuring about stepping in to help the pregnant woman. Chloe's eyes narrowed as she glared at the others, a cold sneer on her lips. “What, you all so eager to speak up? Did I hit a nerve with you little mistresses? Seeing someone in your ‘profession’ get what they deserve, are we? You're projecting, aren't you?” She brandished her phone triumphantly, like a gun, sweeping it back and forth across the faces of the surrounding onlookers. “Family, take a good look at these faces! Trying to defend a mistress? They're all cut from the same cloth! Today, I'm going to get some justice for all of you! These shameless pregnant mistresses—every last one of them deserves a good lesson from me!” She stepped forward, kicking the pregnant woman onto her back. Then, she began to relentlessly kick the woman's stomach, again and again. The pregnant woman screamed, a heartbreaking, ear-splitting sound that made the onlookers' hair stand on end. Yet, no one dared to intervene, terrified of being branded a 'mistress' by Chloe. I watched the horrifying scene unfold on my phone, my legs pumping as I desperately ran towards the bus's location. But it was peak tourist season, and the streets were swarming with people. I felt like an ant trapped in a jar, pushing and shoving through the dense crowd, barely making any headway. Minutes crawled by, and I'd barely moved a few feet. Seeing the pregnant woman's face, twisted in unimaginable pain on my screen, my heart clenched in a vice-like grip. The pregnant woman desperately tried to shield herself from the relentless barrage of kicks. “I'm not a mistress!” she cried. “Call the police! I'm calling the police! You're committing murder!” But Chloe didn't relent. Hearing the woman threaten to call the police, she let out a wild, deranged laugh. “Oh, go ahead! Call them! Let's see if the cops arrest a shameless mistress like you or me!” The chat stream scrolled endlessly, flooded with messages cheering Chloe on. “You go, streamer! About time someone put these people in their place!” “Ugh, pregnant women on the street just make me sick. Their bellies stick out like tumors, it's horrifying!” Chloe glanced at the chat, her confidence soaring. She stopped kicking, squatting down in front of the nearly unconscious woman, a sinister grin spreading across her face. “A shameless woman like you must just love male attention, right? Well, today, I'm going to make that wish come true for you! Pregnant and still strutting around like that? Don't think I don't know what you're thinking, woman! It's disgusting! You're just begging to be objectified, aren't you?” With a sickening rip of fabric, Chloe tore a large portion of the pregnant woman's skirt right off her body. “No, please, no,” the pregnant woman whimpered, frantically trying to cover herself. But Chloe's phone was like a blinding spotlight, illuminating her completely, leaving nothing to the imagination. Chloe cackled, a chilling sound. “Oh, please. Don't play the pure, virtuous maiden now. Consider this a little 'bonus content' for my stream family today.” The pregnant woman was now barely clothed, utterly humiliated. But Chloe still wasn't done. She pulled a set of keys with a pink spherical keychain from her bag, her voice chillingly devoid of mercy. “You hook men, don't you? All with that face? Well, today, I'm going to slice it open! Let's see what man wants you when you're an ugly monster!” Chloe's eyes were bloodshot, and the strength in her grip never wavered. As I saw the keys in Chloe's hand on the livestream, my face fell. When had Chloe stolen my house keys? The pregnant woman had long since lost the strength to resist. Her once pristine, alabaster face was instantly crisscrossed with dozens of lacerations, raw, bleeding tissue exposed beneath the gashes. Then, Chloe grabbed a fistful of the pregnant woman's hair and began slamming her head against the floor, thump, thump, thump, without a shred of mercy. Her fans in the stream continued their frenzy. “Amazing work, streamer! Can you get a shot of her chest for us guys, for a little 'bonus'?” “This shameless woman totally deserves it! Pregnant with some bastard child and still can't keep a low profile? Who does she think she's guilt-tripping now?” The pregnant woman lay in a growing pool of blood, practically a blood-soaked wreck! 3 Finally, someone couldn't stomach it anymore and stepped forward, forcefully pushing Chloe away. “Even if she is a mistress, you shouldn't be hitting her! Look at her! Are you not going to stop until you've killed her?” Chloe stumbled, then turned back, her eyes blazing with fury at the bystander. “You dare push me? Do you even know who I am? Let me tell you, I could buy the lives of you pathetic wretches with a snap of my fingers! Even if I killed her right here, right now, no one would dare lay a hand on me!” Her words made the courageous bystander, who had finally spoken up, visibly flinch and hesitate. The pregnant woman was hunched over, her breath shallow and faint. She was utterly bewildered, unable to comprehend why a minor disagreement over a priority seat could possibly provoke such savage retaliation. “I… I don't even know you…” she gasped. “Why are you slandering me as a mistress…? Who… who are you?” “Who am I? I'm not afraid to tell you; I'm afraid you'll wet your pants when you find out!” Chloe cackled triumphantly. “I'm Serena Sterling, the sole heiress of Sterling Holdings, and I'm currently studying law at the prestigious Northwood University! You common bugs, I can kill as many of you as I please! Who dares cross the Sterling family?” Her venomous gaze swept across everyone in the bus. The onlookers instinctively recoiled, terrified of being implicated. “Even if I beat this wretch to death right here, I'll still be attending classes tomorrow, earning my scholarships, and being hailed as an exemplary student!” The crowd, who had moments ago been on the verge of intervening, instantly abandoned any thought of helping the pregnant woman once Chloe declared herself the Sterling heiress. In Riverton, the Sterling family wielded immense, unchallengeable power. Who would dare cross them? It seemed the pregnant woman had simply had the misfortune of encountering an untouchable figure that day. Chloe grabbed the pregnant woman's neck, half-lifting her before starting a new round of torment. “Still dared to get pregnant! Still planning to have his child? Today, I'm going to make sure this abomination is stillborn, and then I'll destroy your womb, you filthy slut! Let's see you try to bear children then!” Then, a gruesome, sickening squelch echoed. The pregnant woman could no longer endure the excruciating pain. Without even a whimper, her entire body went limp. Seeing that Chloe might have actually caused a fatality, the passengers in the bus quickly dialed 911. Meanwhile, I was finally breaking free from the suffocating crowd, my hand reaching for the bus door! By now, the livestream had attracted a flood of new viewers, many of whom were outraged, condemning the abuse of the pregnant woman and lambasting the 'Sterling heiress' for her sense of entitlement. Chloe watched, gloating, as everything unfolded exactly as she'd planned. She wasn't worried about anyone digging up her account's identity. This particular account was meant for an anonymous, risque online persona, and she'd secretly registered it using my phone number. If this account were doxxed, and netizens saw my identity — Serena Sterling — attached to it, I'd be absolutely ruined, unable to clear my name even if I tried! What's more, the key she used to scratch the pregnant woman's face was my house key, and the pink spherical keychain attached to it was a globally limited edition. All it would take was a little digging for netizens to trace those personal items back to me. Every single piece of evidence pointed directly at me. Chloe's setup was truly flawless! I had to expose Chloe's true colors before everything was set in stone! I fought my way out of the throng, bursting onto the bus in three quick strides, directly confronting Chloe. I reached out and violently tore off the mask she used to hide her face— 4 But in the chaos, my phone hadn't captured her face. Startled, she twisted away, quickly pulled her mask back on, and then bolted off the bus, disappearing into the vast crowd. I quickly saved all the recordings from Chloe's livestream while simultaneously making a call. Chloe's stream was soon taken down for broadcasting violent and graphic content. But it was useless; countless clips of the broadcast were already spreading like wildfire across social media. I anonymously sent the full livestream recording directly to the pregnant woman's husband. The pregnant woman's husband was none other than my roommate Chloe's adoptive brother. If I hadn't died once already, I'd still be as bewildered as anyone else, wondering why Chloe harbored such intense hatred for a stranger, let alone committing attempted murder in my name. Chloe was actually the Hayes family's adopted daughter. They'd doted on her since childhood, treating her like a precious jewel, which had fostered a terrible habit: she believed she had to get whatever she wanted, no matter what. But she wasn't content; she'd developed an unnatural affection for her adoptive 'brother,' Ethan Hayes. During her teenage years, she'd once run into his bedroom in her underwear and lay on his bed. Ethan, upon discovering this, had a furious argument with her and their parents. But the Hayes parents, out of excessive fondness for Chloe, wanted Ethan to simply compromise. Ethan, disgusted by his adoptive sister's improper feelings, had stormed out after graduating college, moving to Summit City to build his own career. There, he met and married his current wife, Olivia Croft—the very pregnant woman Chloe had just brutalized. Knowing Chloe's true nature, Ethan had deliberately kept his adoptive family from meeting Olivia, even keeping their wedding a secret from them. When Chloe learned that the 'brother' she'd admired for so long had secretly married and started a family behind her back, her fury erupted in waves. She deliberately approached Olivia, posing as Ethan's distant cousin, and quickly won Olivia's trust through daily shows of warm solicitude and concern. Once she had Olivia's trust, she seized the opportunity to invite Olivia back to Riverton to visit Ethan's adoptive parents. Olivia, believing Ethan simply had a disagreement with his family, and reasoning that a wife should eventually meet her in-laws, decided to come alone first to gauge the situation and help her husband reconcile with them. And I was an indispensable part of Chloe's plan. She had, somehow, gotten it into her head that she was the true Sterling heiress, and that I was an imposter, a cuckoo in the nest. Since we had similar builds, and with her wearing a mask and cap, anyone familiar with us both could easily mistake her for me from behind. Chloe's plan was to kill two birds with one stone: eliminate her hated sister-in-law, Olivia, and ruin my reputation, thereby seizing the heiress identity for herself. At the hospital, Ethan rushed in, looking disheveled and distraught. He stood outside the ICU, staring at his wife, Olivia, lying on the bed, riddled with tubes. Ethan was a well-known entrepreneur in Summit City, and his wife, Olivia, was his cherished princess—he wouldn't even utter a harsh word to her. And now, she'd been so grievously harmed she was on the verge of becoming a vegetable, not to mention their unborn child had been brutally kicked into a miscarriage. His eyes bloodshot with rage, he immediately vowed to find 'Serena Sterling' and make her pay. He didn't care if it was the Sterling family or anyone else; whoever dared to harm his wife would pay a bloody price!
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