There wasn't a single person in the room who didn't despise Iris. They had come for a charity gala, only to witness the ugliest side of human nature in this woman.
Many raised their phones, the flashes of their cameras blinding as they captured Iris and Vincent's downfall.
Within moments, the videos and photos were already spreading online, accompanied by explosive headlines.
At the other end of the hall, Summer stood quietly.
The light filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows cast a glow on her slender frame, making her look like a fragile flower that had somehow weathered a storm and was still standing tall.
Janina gave her an encouraging nod.
Summer walked onto the stage, step by step, her gaze fixed on Iris.
She remembered the day she was wheeled out of surgery after her miscarriage, how Iris had looked at her from behind a surgical mask, her eyes glinting with triumph.
"Iris," Summer's voice was strong and clear, her gaze like a laser. "You claimed I was behind it all-your forced drug use, the stalking, the assault, the rape. You said I orchestrated it to harm you. Well, today I've brought the evidence. Let's let everyone judge for themselves whether I was the one pulling the strings."
She laid bare the truths of the past, one accusation at a time.
"You framed me again and again. One by one, my friends grew to hate me, abandoned me, and distanced themselves from me. You planned it all, step by step, until I got cancer. And even now, at the end of my life, you still won't leave me alone. Tell me, what did I ever do to you to deserve this?"
At that moment, a document appeared on the screen.
It was a freshly issued pathology report.
The arsenic levels in her blood were 399 times the safe limit. Alongside it was another report from a month prior, confirming a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer.
Instantly, the noisy hall fell into a miraculous silence.
Everyone felt a profound wave of sympathy for this woman who had been slowly poisoned.
If it hadn't been for Vincent's protection and indulgence, his rush to defend Iris, Summer's fate might not have been so tragic.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Abandoned by All I Took It All Back