All eyes were fixed on me.
Everyone wanted to know what kind of bombshell I was about to drop.
“My client requests to present video footage,” Daniel announced, producing a flash drive from his
case.
The judge nodded. A court clerk stepped forward, plugged it in, and brought the contents up on the
big screen.
Three folders appeared.
At my instruction, the clerk opened the first folder and began to play the first video.
Brandon burst out of the bathroom, still dripping wet, and threw himself onto the plush bear.
His hands roamed with unsettling intimacy.
And his expression–utter, unfiltered bliss.
The courtroom gasped.
“No way… Brandon was doing that with a teddy bear? Behind Claire’s back?!”
“What kind of twisted fetish is this? It’s not like he doesn’t have a wife!”
“Who treats a stuffed animal like a lover? That’s just degrading.‘
Whispers erupted–sharp, disgusted, stunned.
Brandon’s face flushed deep red. He hadn’t expected this. After all, he was sure the home surveillance system had been disabled.
Madison jumped in to defend him. “Brandon has a valid reason for all this!”
She stood quickly. “Back when Claire was giving birth, he raced through a storm to get to her. There was a car accident. He hit his head.”
“Since then… he’s suffered from clinical depression. Dissociation. We have a doctor’s note.”
“Maybe this is just his way of coping with the trauma.”
The crowd began murmuring in agreement.
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“If it’s a mental health—related, that explains a lot. Poor guy must’ve been suffering in silence.”
“People with depression do weird things. I once spent two weeks talking to a ficus.”
“Instead of helping him, she tries to shame him? No wonder he clings to that bear. She probably pushed him over the edge.”
Sensing the tide shift in their favor, Madison kept going.
“Claire, this is sick. You ignore your depressed husband, and now use his condition against him? All for money?”
“You’re unbelievable. A wife who’d weaponize something like this–just to gain the upper hand in court? Shameless.”
She dumped it all on me, trying to make me look like the villain.
Brandon buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with sobs.
“It’s okay, baby,” Evelyn whispered, pulling him into her arms like a child. “Mom and Dad are here. We’ll get you through this.”
Then she turned and glared at me with unfiltered hatred.
“One day of marriage should earn a hundred days of kindness–but you’ve paid him back with cruelty..”
“Do you even understand the weight of a man’s reputation?”
“You’ve humiliated him in front of the entire world. You should be ashamed of yourself, you calculating, venomous little snake!”
Thomas rose to his feet, face flushed with rage.
“I can’t believe we ever welcomed you into our family. After everything we gave you -this is how you repay us? Turns out we raised a snake under our own home.”
“You dare drag my son through the mud? I swear, you’ll pay for this, Claire.”
–
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The courtroom erupted into chaos.
The crowd looked like they wanted to tear me apart.
The media, of course, had a field day–broadcasting everything in real–time, fueling a wildfire of
online hate.
I was getting crucified–publicly, gleefully, relentlessly.
“Order!” the judge barked, banging his gavel.
“I request the court’s attention on the second folder,” I said, my voice steady and cool.
If I dared step into this courtroom today, it was because I came fully prepared.
The judge nodded.
The clerk opened the second folder. Dozens of video files appeared.
He clicked the first one–yes, the exact footage I’d watched in the car.
The teddy bear strolled out of the guest bedroom–on its own–and started dancing in front of the living room camera.
Gasps swept across the room.
“What the hell…?”
“Is that thing… actually moving?!”
“Jesus–what kind of haunted house is this?”
Whispers exploded around us as people started realizing this wasn’t just some weird fetish. Something wasn’t right.
Madison’s smug confidence shattered instantly. Her expression cracked, and something panicked
flashed through her eyes.
Brandon’s face went pale.
“Honey,” he stammered quickly, “I–I didn’t know… There must be something wrong with the house. You were scared, right? That’s why you wanted out, right?”
Chapter 5
