Chapter 26 Public Enemy No. 1
Being the third day and also the last day Evelyn had promised Roman she would resolve the issue, she logged into one of her long-dormant social media accounts. She took a deep breath and typed out a post, hitting the upload button before she could overthink it.
The post reads: “This is Evelyn Hayes-Sinclair. I'm unapologetic to have married the man I chose. To those who wronged me playing the victim: savor these fleeting moments, because your retribution is coming fast, like a tide.”
The internet exploded with this post.
Within minutes, the post went viral. The comments poured in-thousands of insults naming her shameless, a gold digger, and home-wrecker. Memes were made. But within the hate, a surprising wave of support welled up-mostly from women who admired her boldness.
And they left comments like:
"Whatever suits you, queen!"
"Unapologetic is the only way to be!"
“Women in men's fields. I like it! Ps: my fiance did the same to me, so it makes me happy seeing a woman do it also, and unapologetically😁”
But the comments were soon drowned with others questioning her audacity and they left comments like; “just because you're rich, it doesn't allow you to feed your morals to the dogs”
Her count of followers skyrocketed-a mix of devoted haters and fierce supporters.
Maya's social media followers also skyrocketed, she wasn't just a national topic now, she had become an international star, people labelled her as the “Female Lead” in this real life soap opera, who deserves better. She got invited for interviews, podcasts, within and outside the country. With people wanting to hear the story, directly from her, and because of this she got real fame.
Due to the pressure from her agency and fans prompting her to go for a live show, she posted a video saying; she's unable to socialize or come outside right now because she is deeply traumatized and she's trying to recover.
After her video was uploaded that day, a chat was leaked to the internet with an anonymous account. The chat shows a conversation of Evelyn and Maya. In the conversation, Maya was playing the pity game, asking her why she would drug her and Nathan making them do the unthinkable, and now she is pregnant. Evelyn replied her that, she has no business in what ever transpired between them and that she should sort it out with Nathan, she's got a ‘bigger fish to catch.’
Another evidence was also uploaded that Maya was the stepsister of Evelyn, and they weren't direct siblings.
At this point, celebrities were even coming out to speak, the day has barely ended and the situation has taken an even larger turn. Maya might be pregnant!!
Some said; “No wonder she refused all her interviews, knowing that might even benefit her more!”
“Man, she's pregnant!!😐”
“I guess the ‘bigger fish’ is the uncle🙄 from the chat”
“Oh we're dealing with stepsisters now and not stepmothers?!!”
“Stepsisters saga, that explains the whole drama”
“At this point Evelyn should just go die. #maya&nathanforthenextcouple#”
“Where are the men in question? No one is talking about them 👀”
Another user replied: Don't even go there, trust me, you don't want to deal with the ‘Sinclair family’ 😂”
“Oh, it's the that ‘Sinclair family’ we're talking about?!! I'm out🤐✌️”
All the while Evelyn ignored all the noise. She had work to do.
During the three days, while everything was going on, she and Lena were working out things together. With Lena’s tech abilities, they pulled the security footage from the hotel on the day she got drugged and before, and after that. The grainy video showed Nathan in the hotel bar that morning, talking with three large men and a nervous-looking server. The camera angle wasn’t great, obscuring their faces, but Evelyn recognized Nathan’s posture instantly. The server was the one who gave her the drugged wine.
They have to find him.
Disguised in large sunglasses and a hat, her face was now too recognizable. Evelyn went back to the hotel with Lena. She then approached the manager, claiming that the server was her favorite and that she wanted to book him for a private event.
"I'm sorry, Madam," said the manager. "He doesn't work here anymore. He was let go after an. incident."
After pressing a substantial amount of cash into the hand of another waiter, they got the server's home address.
They found him, Ben, in a run-down apartment bedridden and covered with bruises. His worried mother let them in after they identified themselves as friends wanting to help.
Terror filled Ben's eyes the very moment he saw Evelyn. His lips moved to call out his mother's name, but Lena was quicker and stuffed a cloth into his mouth. They only removed it once his panic subsided.
“We are not here to hurt you more,” Evelyn said in a composed tone. “We just want the truth. What happened that night?”
At first, Ben refused to say anything, his fear of Nathan’s retaliation palpable in his eyes, but he later broke with persistent pressure and an offer to pay for his medical treatment.
He explained the plan: Nathan had hired three men. Ben was to drug Evelyn’s drink and deliver her to a specific room. However, there was a mix-up with the room number. When he tried to show Nathan the text so that he could clear up the misunderstanding, Nathan wouldn’t listen but instead had his men beat him savagely.
The explicit detail that three men had been waiting for her became like a deafening ping in Evelyn’s skull. For a moment, her vision whited out, a cold numbness spreading through her. Lena’s hand on her arm brought her back.
“He’s not worth it,” Lena whispered.
Evelyn nodded, a hollow fake smile on her lips. Nathan hadn't just wanted to frame her; he had wanted her broken, violated and ruined past repair. She clenched her fingers tightly, clearly shaken by the revelation. Lena, sensing her friend’s fury, shoved the cloth back into Ben's mouth and hit him hard on his injured leg. He screamed hard into the gag.
“This is for nearly destroying a life!” Lena hissed, delivering another sharp blow. “You were willing to ruin her for money!”
She only stopped once Ben was sweating, almost unconscious from the pain. They then demanded a video confession and access to his phone for the chat logs with Nathan and the three men.
"N- Nathan will kill me," he stammered, refusing.
"The Nathan you're afraid of is a nobody now," Evelyn said flatly. "Cooperate, or we'll leave you here with worse injuries and no help."
After more reluctant persuasion, he agreed. They filmed his tearful, detailed confession and extracted all the incriminating text messages. Before leaving, Evelyn slipped a wad of cash into his mother’s hand on the way out. “Get him to a hospital.”
Back at Lena’s apartment, they reviewed what they had thus far in evidence: the confession video, and the damning chat logs. They had the first part of the story—Nathan’s malicious plot.
“Now we need the other side,” Evelyn said calmly. “We need confirmation from the ‘victims’ themselves.”
Nathan would be guarded and angry. Maya however, was proud, pregnant, and likely craving a chance to gloat. She was the perfect target. Maya’s slight baby bump was finally starting to show, and her viral “victim” video made her the sympathetic face of the scandal.
It was simple, Evelyn would find Maya.
Evelyn texted her in four words: We need to talk.