Unscripted Collapse

Late one night, as I scrolled through social media, I came across a relationship influencer with over a hundred thousand followers, teaching men how to "control" their wives.

"She actually tried to talk to me about privacy?" he scoffed. "I ignored her for three days, and she handed over all her passwords, crying and begging me not to leave her."

The comments exploded almost instantly.

The chat went wild. [Take me under your wing, man!]

I felt sick to my stomach. Then, without warning, he lifted his phone and pressed a kiss to the screen.

A face appeared in the reflection.

Mine.

Smiling, he turned back to his audience of thousands. "See this? This is the perfect wife I spent three years training."

A chill ran through me. I clicked into his profile and scrolled all the way back to his first post.

The upload date was the same day we got married.

He claimed he was filming prank videos and that it was all just for the livestream—no wonder he got increasingly out of hand.

That was when it hit me: he had been lying to me all along. From the moment I stepped into that marriage, I had been nothing more than his experiment, his content, his source of money.

Fine.

If that was the case, then I would turn his livestream into his worst nightmare.

I picked up my phone and sat directly beneath the camera he had installed, then sent a deliberately suggestive message to another man.

Three seconds later, the bedroom door burst open.

Matthias stormed in and snatched my phone. After reading the message, his lips pressed into a tight line.

However, he did not explode. He did not even look at me.

Instead, he turned, opened his livestream, and faced the camera.

"Send something through, and I'll show you exactly how to put a cheating woman in her place."

Matthias Lynch pushed his phone straight toward the camera, the motion sharp and deliberate.

On the screen was a message I had sent just moments ago.

[Meet me at the usual place.

To: Yoel Rogers]

For a split second, there was silence. Then the livestream chat exploded.

[Yo, is she cheating?]

[No way. Three years together and she's still sneaking around?]

[Man, you've lost control. Just break her legs and be done with it.]

The comments flooded in faster than I could follow.

Then, just as suddenly, the stream cut to black.

Matthias slipped his phone into his pocket and turned to face me. There was no anger on his face. No shouting.

He was smiling.

My stomach dropped. I knew that smile far too well.

For the past three years, every time before he hurt me, he wore that exact same expression. Calm, almost gentle, as if nothing were wrong at all.

He stepped closer and crouched in front of me. The same hand that had just been playing to the camera then lifted and brushed lightly against my cheek.

"Lily," he murmured,