35.8%
Chapter 7
The day Aunt Jean was arrested, I went back to our old house and set off a string of firecrackers. I bought candy for all the kids in the neighborhood, celebrating like it was New Year’s Eve.
I showered anyone who joined in the festivities with gifts.
But someone filmed me and posted it on TikTok, adding a melodramatic caption about how I’d killed my parents, sent my father’s sister to jail, and refused to acknowledge my stepmother and brother, all for the inheritance. They painted me as a heartless gold digger.
The video went viral.
My name was trending.
The comments were brutal–I was a cold blooded murderer, a monster,
I laughed.
This was Hazel’s doing.
She was studying media at USC. Her professor, a famous influencer, had assigned them a project – to create a viral
Tik Tok account.
Hazel, with her good looks, had been featured in many of her classmates‘ videos, becoming an internet sensation the “pure and innocent campus sweetheart.
Two–thirds of the accounts that had reposted the video belonged to Hazel’s classmates.
My lawyer called, asking if I wanted to sue.
“Let it play out,” I said.
Two days later, I received a death threat in the mail. I handed it over to my lawyer.
Within hours, Hazel’s classmates backpedaled, posting apologies. The original video was deleted.
But the hate kept coming, Everyone thought I was suppressing the truth with my money, and silencing the victims.
Then, a popular blogger, claiming to be a friend of mine, posted a video revealing the truth about Angel, about her affair with my father, about her manipulative tactics, about Hazel’s lies. The video detailed my struggles after being kicked out, how I’d worked multiple jobs to pay for college, how I’d even resorted to dumpster diving.
Public opinion shifted. Hazel’s classmates started posting about her bullying, her lies, her cruelty.
The campus sweetheart became a pariah.
I filed a lawsuit, suing Hazel for defamation.
Reborn My Family Tried to
