On Halloween Night, I Put “Silver Bracelets” on My Brother’s Wife During Her First Visit

When I came home for Halloween, my brother brought his fiancée over to meet the family. She insisted on dragging me to the mall to buy her a welcome gift. In the fitting room, she suddenly pointed at the ugly scar on my stomach and shouted in fake surprise: “Oh my God, Nora! That C-section scar is really raised!” “Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband?” The sales associate gave me a disgusted look. My mother, who had been about to pay, was so furious she threw the bank card in my face. “You shameless little slut! No wonder you keep refusing to go on dates. You’ve been sleeping around!” My brother told me to get lost before I offended his girlfriend’s eyes. I picked up the card, calmly buttoned my shirt, and gave a cold laugh. “Of course it’s a bad scar. Don’t you remember, Chloe?” “We met when I was working vice. Though you weren’t using that name back then, were you?” I had finally managed to take some time off and wanted nothing more than to catch up on sleep. Instead, Mom dragged me out of bed. “It’s your brother’s first time bringing his girlfriend home. Shouldn’t you do something nice for her?” She scolded me while slipping my bank card into her pocket. When we reached the mall, my brother, Ethan Bennett, immediately shot me a look. It was his signal for me to pay. I sighed. I was tired of these fake family outings. All I wanted was to get this over with, pay, and go home to sleep. Chloe Parker held a dress against me, her voice sickeningly sweet. “You have such a great figure, Nora. Why don’t we try matching outfits?” I frowned. “I don’t wear things like that. I can’t move properly in them.” Wearing something like that outside would be asking to get myself killed. Mom pinched me hard and lowered her voice. “This is her first visit. Don’t you dare give her an attitude! Just try it on!” Ethan leaned over, looking irritated. “Chloe’s trying to be nice. Stop looking so miserable all the time.” I sighed. I had barely stepped into the fitting room when Chloe slipped in after me, another dress in her hand. “Oh my God, Nora! Your stomach…” Her shout drew the attention of everyone in the store. I instinctively reached for my shirt to cover myself, but it was too late. Chloe clapped a hand over her mouth and shouted in fake surprise: “That C-section scar is really raised!” “Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband? Unless…” The store went silent. The sales associate gave me a contemptuous look. Whispers reached my ears. “She looks so respectable. Who knew she slept around?” “Had a baby out of wedlock, and there isn’t even a man around. Bet she was someone’s mistress until he dumped her.” I took a deep breath and held back my anger. “Watch what you say, Chloe.” “This is a knife wound.” Chloe stepped closer as if I had told a hilarious joke. Her voice grew louder. “Having a baby out of wedlock might be embarrassing, but the child is innocent. You shouldn’t deny they exist.” “I trained as a nurse. The position, the shape—that’s definitely a C-section scar.” “And with scarring that bad, you must have gone to some sketchy clinic.” “Were you so desperate to save money that you risked your life? How old is the kid? Boy or girl?” She fired questions at me without giving me a chance to answer. With every question, the looks around me grew more contemptuous. Then an angry shout rang out. “What did you just say?”Mom pushed through the crowd. The moment she saw my scar, her face turned livid. “Nora Bennett! So that’s why you stayed away for years. You were out being a whore and having some bastard!” She didn’t ask how I had been hurt or whether it had hurt. All she cared about was how much I embarrassed her. She pointed a shaking finger in my face. “You’ve disgraced this entire family!” I drew a deep breath and looked at the woman who had given birth to me. Because of the nature of my work, I rarely came home. “Mom, I was injured on duty. Three years ago—” “Shut up!” She cut me off with a scream. “What kind of work injury leaves a scar on your stomach? In the exact same place as a C-section?” Ethan jumped in, retreating several steps in disgust. “So that year you disappeared, you were off having a bastard? That’s disgusting!” “I even bragged to Chloe that you worked for the government. Turns out you’re just a slut!” I looked at his twisted face, and the last trace of warmth inside me vanished. I had worked myself to the bone to put him through college. This was what I got in return. Seeing that she had stirred up enough trouble, Chloe started playing peacemaker. “Please don’t be upset, Mrs. Bennett. Maybe Nora has her reasons. Maybe she was some powerful man’s mistress…” “After all, she’s always away for work. Who knows what she really does out there?” Mom exploded. “You shameless little slut! No wonder you keep refusing to go on dates. You’ve been sleeping around!” I fixed Chloe with a cold stare. “Say one more word.” She shrank into Ethan’s arms. “Ethan, she’s scaring me. Did I say something wrong?” “It’s okay. I’m here.” He wrapped his arms around her and yelled at me. “Nora, you did it, and now nobody’s allowed to talk about it? Chloe trained as a nurse. You think she wouldn’t recognize it?” “A nurse?” Mom seized on that like a lifeline. “Chloe, are you sure it’s a C-section?” Chloe nodded firmly. “I did a clinical rotation in maternity. That’s definitely a C-section incision. A vertical one, too. They usually only do those in emergencies.” That sent Mom into another rage. “You shameless thing! How did I raise someone like you?” “I should have strangled you the day you were born!” I had heard those words all my life. They had never cut quite this deeply. I looked at her, still hoping she might listen. “Mom, I was injured on duty.” Chloe immediately cut in. “Ethan told me you’re some kind of civilian traffic aide, right?” “I know traffic aides work with the police, but what kind of aide goes out on assignments all the time and doesn’t come home for a year?” “And how would a traffic aide get a wound like that? Were you directing traffic or getting into a shootout?” She looked me up and down with open contempt. “Stop hiding behind your job. We’re not idiots.” Her words poured gasoline on Mom’s anger. Mom already thought my job was pathetic. Low pay, and it kept me from taking care of the family. Now she was convinced the whole thing was a cover. “How long are you going to keep lying? A knife wound?” Her voice rose into a piercing shriek. “What were you doing, running with gangs? Killing people? If you’d been hurt that badly, don’t you think your own mother would know?” For a moment, my mind went blank. Of course you wouldn’t know. Every time I called home, all you talked about was how Ethan needed money or wanted new shoes. You never once asked whether I was tired. Whether I was hurting. Ethan pointed at me in disgust. “So much for being busy with police work. More like you were busy servicing the cops!” The sales associate came over, revulsion written across her face. “Ma’am, please keep your voice down. You’re disturbing our customers.” “And you’ll need to buy anything you’ve tried on or pay to have it dry-cleaned. It’s filthy now.” She put special emphasis on “filthy.” She even called mall security to have me thrown out for disrupting the store.I didn’t move. I just stared at Chloe. She took Mom’s arm, all fake concern. “Mrs. Bennett, Nora might be dirty, but she’s still family. We should buy her the dress so she can cover her shame.” Mom shook with rage and pulled my bank card from her pocket. With a sharp smack, she hurled it into my face. “Take your filthy money and get out! Don’t ever call yourself my daughter again. You disgust me!” I bent down, picked up the card, and wiped off the dust. The sting in my face was nothing compared to the pain inside. I lifted my head and looked at every person there. Finally, my eyes settled on Chloe’s smug face. “Finished with your little performance?” I buttoned my shirt, a cold smile on my lips. “Chloe Parker, right? Trained as a nurse?” I advanced toward her. “Which nursing school? Do you have proof of your clinical placement? Let’s see your nursing license.” Her eyes flickered, and she shrank behind Ethan. “I… I don’t have it with me.” Ethan stepped in front of her and shoved me. “Have you lost your mind, Nora? You get caught being a slut, so now you’re attacking everyone else?” “Get out. Nobody wants to look at you!” I nodded. “Fine. I’ll leave.” “But first, we have a few things to settle.” I took out my phone to make a call. If we couldn’t resolve this as a family, we would handle it officially. But the moment I unlocked the screen, Ethan snatched the phone away. He threw it down and stamped on it twice. “Calling for backup? Going to get your lover down here?” “Let me tell you something, Nora. God himself couldn’t come down here and make you look clean!” Looking at my shattered phone, I finally snapped. “Ethan!” “What? You going to glare at me now? Hit a nerve?” Chloe kept feeding the flames. “Don’t be like that, Ethan. Of course she won’t admit to doing something so shameful.” Then she covered her mouth, as if an even more horrifying thought had just occurred to her. “Oh my God. If she sleeps around that much, what if she has some nasty disease…” “The skin around that scar looked red. Almost like herpes…” At the mention of a disease, Mom’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. “Mom! What’s wrong?” Ethan caught her and started shouting in panic. The store erupted into chaos. Dad, who had been in the restroom, heard the commotion and hurried over. Chloe rushed toward him, tears appearing on command. “It’s my fault, Mr. Bennett. I should have stopped her…” “Nora… she had a baby out of wedlock, and she caught one of those diseases…” “Your wife said a few words, and Nora tried to hit her. She got so upset that she fainted…” Ethan nodded furiously. “Dad! Nora did this! She tried to hit me, too!” Dad turned and stared at me, then jabbed a finger in my face. “Who’s the man? Tell me!” I looked back at him coldly. “There is no man. There is no child.” Smack! He slapped me so hard my ears rang. “You’re still lying? Your mother’s unconscious, and you still won’t tell the truth?” “Listen to me, Nora. Wherever that bastard is, I’ll use every connection I have to find it!” “I’ll put it in foster care myself! It will never set foot in my house!” “And I’m going to your workplace! I’ll make sure everyone knows exactly what kind of woman you are!” People around us took out their phones and started recording. Someone recognized Chloe. “Hey, isn’t that the influencer who does those innocent-but-sexy nurse videos?” “That’s her! Who knew her future sister-in-law was so shameless?” Someone started a livestream. The comments were full of insults aimed at me. I held my burning cheek and looked at the man I called my father. The last thread tying me to this family snapped. “Fine! You all say I had a child?” “Where’s your proof? Chloe, bring this child here and show me!” I advanced toward her. “If you’re so sure it’s a C-section scar, are you willing to have a doctor examine it right here?” “And if you’re wrong, you can get on your knees and apologize!” She stumbled backward, rattled by my tone. “I… How would I know where your child is? I… I’m a nurse. I can tell just by looking…” “Just by looking?” I gave a cold laugh. “Funny. So can I.” I lifted a finger and pointed at her collarbone without touching her. “I’ve seen that tattoo in a vice case file.” “You weren’t using this name back then, were you?”