Chapter 32
She glanced down at her phone-it was a call from Lyman.
“It’s you!” she answered, her voice softening almost instinctively.
“Did you see the trending news?” Lyman’s voice was low, calm, and somehow comforting.
“Yeah, I saw it.” Effie replied quietly. “Thank you.”
There was a brief silence on the other end before Lyman replied, his tone even, “No need to thank me. It’s the least I could do.”
A gentle warmth bloomed in Effie’s chest as she held the phone.
She knew Lyman was a man of few words, but every time, he showed his care through his actions rather than promises.
For a moment, she wondered if maybe just maybe this marriage wasn’t as hopeless as she’d first imagined.
“Wait for me after work tonight. I’ll take you out for dinner,” Lyman said.
“Alright,” Effie agreed.
After hanging up, Effie found herself a little distracted, her mind drifting.
Across the building, meanwhile, Suzan was teetering on the edge of a meltdown after discovering she’d made the trending topics.
Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, her heart hammering in her chest.
With the security footage out there, and the truth plain for everyone to see, there was simply no way out.
Especially when she caught Mitchell’s questioning gaze-Suzan felt like she might actually lose it.
Damn it!
Who the hell leaked that surveillance video?
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined last night’s incident would be caught so clearly on camera, let alone that the footage would go viral overnight, sparking a storm of controversy.
“Mitchell, let me explain…” Suzan’s voice trembled as she tried to defend herself.
“Suzan, why would you do something like that?” Mitchell sounded bewildered. Thinking back to how he’d stood up for her yesterday, he suddenly felt foolish.
Suzan opened her mouth, but no words came. There was no way to talk her way out of this- the footage clearly showed her reaching out to grab Effie, and the two of them tumbling into the pool together.
“I….. I just…..” Suzan’s eyes brimmed with tears, her voice choking, “I was just so angry. Effie always acts so superior, and I—I lost control for a moment…”
Mitchell sighed. “Don’t ever do that again. You know, the person I care about now is you.”
Suzan wrapped her arms around him from behind. “I know. I won’t do it again.” Mitchell immediately called someone, trying to get the trending post taken down, but was told, oddly enough, that it had to stay up for twenty-four hours.
Which meant nearly everyone saw it.
Suzan was beside herself with rage.
Meanwhile, Shepard and Vera were in a panic as well.
For the Bagnold family, this was a full-blown scandal.
The moment Shepard saw the footage, he was so furious his blood pressure must have shot through the roof.
He called both Effie and Suzan immediately.
Effie was surprised when her phone rang, her eyes turning cold, but she still picked up.
When she heard Shepard order her to come home at once, Effie just laughed softly.
Home? Was that really her home?
Still, she could guess exactly why he was calling.
And honestly, Effie was curious just how shameless they would get this time.
After work, Effie called Lyman to apologize-she’d have to make a trip back to the Bagnold family’s house.
Lyman told her to be careful and to call him if anything happened.
He’d already gotten a sense of just how the Bagnold family treated Effie.
But she was his wife now, and he’d make sure she was cherished.
After hanging up, Effie caught a cab back to the Bagnold estate.
She knew walking into that house was like stepping into a lion’s den, but she wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t the Effie they used to push around anymore.
Let them try—she was ready for whatever came next.