I nodded, feeling a massive, crushing weight lift off my shoulders. “Thank you, Mr. Vance.”
“My car is waiting outside to take you home to your children, ma’am,” he said, gesturing toward the exit.
I adjusted my dress, lifted my chin, and walked out of the studio, stepping into the bright, blinding sunlight of a brand-new world.
Chapter 5: The Public Storm
The fallout was biblical.
For the next several weeks, the internet belonged entirely to the story of the Angel of St. Jude and the Coward of the Carter Estate. Social media was saturated with memes, video clips of my broadcast, and endless threads of public outrage directed at Caleb and Margaret.
They became instant pariahs. They couldn’t walk into a grocery store or a coffee shop without being recognized. People would whisper, point, and sometimes actively yell at them in the streets. The high society that Margaret had worshipped, the elite country clubs and charity boards she had ruled with an iron fist, dropped her overnight. No billionaire, no politician, no socialite wanted their brand associated with the “evil family” who abandoned a heroic nurse and her premature twins. Their social execution was absolute.
