Husband and Best Friend Framed Me; Danmaku Helped Me Kill Back

The day before our holiday weekend family dinner, I went to the mall to buy gifts for the family, and suddenly a stream of comments appeared in front of my eyes.

Watch out! You're already being targeted, and they're going to frame you as a child trafficker!

Keep an eye on the mother and child near you. They've been following you for twenty minutes!

Your best friend is the mall's property manager, and she'll team up with that woman to slander you!

Your husband will use your miscarriage against you to make the trafficking accusation stick!

I was totally confused. How could my husband and my best friend want to hurt me?

But the moment I turned my head, I saw a woman leading a child by the hand coming toward me.

I quickly dodged aside, then suddenly remembered the last few lines of the comments.

Whatever you do, don't let them take you away! They'll kill you and dress it up as infighting in a trafficking ring!

And your husband will inherit your house and savings, then run off with your best friend!

Don't run off alone! Set up an alibi right now! Hurry!

Seeing that mother and son bearing down on me, I was so scared I jumped straight onto the elevator and ducked into the movie theater on the top floor.

1.

A little over an hour later, the movie let out.

As I followed the crowd out of the theater and the elevator reached the first floor, a shrill scream came from around the corner.

"That's her! She kidnapped my son!"

A woman rushed out of the crowd and seized my arm.

"Give me back my son! You child trafficker! Where did you take my son?"

She yanked me so hard I stumbled a step.

"Let go!"

I pulled at her grip, but she didn't let go.

"Yolanda Joyce!"

A familiar voice came from the side.

My best friend, Nanette Fox, was in a property management uniform with a name tag pinned to her chest, her expression stern.

"Ms. Lawrence's child has gone missing in the mall. The surveillance footage shows you had contact with her child earlier. Please cooperate with the investigation and come with us."

I looked at her.

This was my best friend of six years, my college roommate, my bridesmaid at my wedding.

Now she stood in front of me all business, as if I really had done something wrong.

"You're the property manager. You have no law enforcement authority."

I shook off Lola's hand.

Nanette froze for a second, clearly not expecting me to fire back at her directly.

"The child got lost in the mall, and we have a responsibility to help Ms. Lawrence find him."

"Based on the surveillance, you're the prime suspect."

She took out her phone and opened a piece of surveillance video.

In the frame, I had just come out from shopping, and Lola approached me with her child, no more than a meter away.

At the time I was walking forward, and I glanced down at the child.

The video paused right there.

"See, she had her eye on my son all along!"

Lola cried and shouted, her voice loud.

"What does that prove?"

My voice wasn't quiet either.

"I glanced once, and that makes me a trafficker? Then the mall is crawling with traffickers!"

Nanette put her phone away.

"The complete footage involves the mall's internal procedures. You can come to the monitoring room and watch it with us."

At that moment, the comments drifted across again.

You can't go with her! The property office is on the second basement level, where there are blind spots in the cameras.

Once they get you inside, they'll fabricate a recording of you "confessing to trafficking."

Then they'll drag you out through the fire escape to the back door and shove you into that white van in the alley!

I was so scared my hand trembled, and I quickly steadied myself.

"We'll watch it right here!"

"Without solid proof, I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Nanette frowned and lowered her voice slightly.

"Yolanda, I'm doing this for your own good. There are too many people around here, and once the accusation sticks, your reputation will be destroyed."

I gave a cold laugh.

"You pin a crime on me and shout the loudest. When I ask you for evidence, you tell me to keep it low-key. That's for my own good?"

Nanette was left speechless, unable to say anything for a moment.

Lola suddenly lunged at me and snatched the shopping bag out of my hand.

The bag fell, spilling out the gifts I'd just bought.

One was a silk scarf for my mother-in-law.

One was clothing for my four-year-old nephew.

Lola snatched up the child's clothes and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Look, everyone! She's got kids' clothes in her bag! She had it all ready to change my son's clothes and carry him off! That's exactly what traffickers do!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

Some people held up their phones and pressed in closer, others cursed under their breath.

"Looks so respectable, and she's actually a trafficker!"

"You can know a person's face but never their heart!"

I frowned. She'd been following me for twenty minutes and already knew perfectly well what I'd bought.

But could that be used as evidence against me?

I stared at her, my tone cold.

"These are the holiday gifts I bought for my nephew."

"Owning kids' clothes makes someone a trafficker? Then the mall might as well shut down its children's clothing stores!"

Nanette jumped in at once.

"Yolanda Joyce, right now you really are the prime suspect. Please cooperate with the investigation and come to the office to explain the situation."

"I'm not going."

"If you won't go, that just proves you have a guilty conscience!"

Lola broke into loud sobs.

"My son is only four years old! If you don't hand my son over today, I'll die right here!"

And with that she moved to slam herself into the fire hydrant.

Nanette grabbed hold of her.

"Ms. Lawrence, please calm down! We'll definitely help you find your child!"

My eyes went cold.

With her making this scene, the people around didn't need to bother with the truththey'd already slapped the bully label on me.

Sure enough, quite a few of them started cursing at me.

"Trafficker!"

"Stealing a child and driving the poor mother to her deathhow vicious can you get!"

"Even the property manager says she's the prime suspect, and she still won't budge!"

"Post it online and expose her!"

Public opinion is frightening enough, but being exposed online is even more terrifying.

I was just about to call the police when a shout suddenly came from behind me.

"Yolanda!"

My husband was here.

Clint hurried over, frantically wiping his sweat, rushed straight up to me, and grabbed my shoulder.

"What did you do? Where did you take that child?"

He pronounced me guilty the moment he opened his mouth.

I gritted my teeth.

"I never touched her child."

"You're still going to argue?"

He looked absolutely heartbroken.

"You just had a miscarriage last month. Seeing someone else with a child, you couldn't help being jealous."

"But even if you took the child away just to play with for a while, you should have given them back."

The whole crowd exploded, buzzing with talk.

"So it turns out she miscarriedbut that's still no excuse to steal someone else's kid."

"Isn't this some kind of psycho? She has no child of her own, so she's jealous of people who do."

Just like the on-screen comments had predicted.

He was using my miscarriage to make the accusation stick.

I stared at Clint.

"You just said I took her child away. Did you see it?"

Clint froze for a second.

"No."

"Then you only just got herehow do you know a child even went missing?"

"Nanette called me and asked me to help talk some sense into you."

"And whatever she says is automatically true?"

"She's your best friend. Why would she ever hurt you?"

Clint got flustered.

"Besides, you've got a record! Didn't you carry off your sister-in-law's kid last month? The whole family went out of their minds looking for you..."

I frowned.

It was true that I'd been in a bad way after my miscarriage.

My sister-in-law wanted to take my mind off it, so she handed her son over for me to look after for a few days.

And in his mouth, that turned into me having a record of stealing children.

Clint's words immediately set off more chatter.

People started urging me.

"Just give the child back to them. Even if you don't have one of your own, you can't take someone else's."

"Yeah, we get that you're hurting inside, but don't do something wrong."

I clenched my fists in fury.

"Fine, then let's call the police!"

"I didn't take any childI'm not afraid of an investigation!"

I was about to dial.

Nanette was quickshe slapped the phone right out of my hand.

"No! This affects the mall's reputation. I can't let you do something reckless!"

The phone hit the floor, and a small piece of the screen cracked off.

I went to pick it up, but Clint was faster.

He slid my phone into his own pocket, putting on a look of concern.

"Yolanda, calling the police is bad for your reputation. Don't do anything rash."

"Be reasonable. Give the child back, and everything will be fine!"

Rage boiled up in me.

But I told myself to stay calm.

"All right, we don't have to call the police."

"So tell mehow long has the child been missing?"

Everyone looked at Lola.

She cried out.

"Almost half an hour now!"

"Half an hour. If I really did take the child, would I stick around here waiting to get caught?"

I was talking fast.

"The mall has cameras, a PA system, security. Something happens and you don't lock down the doorsyou just let people come and go as they please. This is your idea of an investigation?"

"Just because I glanced at the child once, you decide I'm a trafficker? Is that evidence going to convince anyone? More likely you lost your own child and you're trying to shake somebody down!"

The question left Lola frantic and furious.

"My child is missing and you're saying I'm shaking someone down? What proof do you have?!"

"You don't have any proof either, and you're calling me a trafficker!"

We faced off, and for a moment the crowd started to waver.

Someone spoke up.

"What this woman's saying kind of makes sense..."

Seeing the mood shift, Clint got desperate.

"Yolanda, stop making a scene..."

"I'm making a scene?"

I cut him off.

"You've been here five minutes, you haven't looked at a single piece of evidence, you just heard Nanette say one thingand you want me to confess?"

"You believe her but not me. Whose husband are you, exactly?"

Clint had no answer.

For a moment the air went stiff.

Suddenly Lola screamed in a rage.

"You still won't give my child backhave you already done something to him?!"

Crying and screaming, she lunged at me, clawing for my face.

I tried to block her with both hands, but Clint held me fast.

Lola's sharp nails raked across my face, tearing it open in bloody streaks.

"I'll kill you, you trafficker! Give me back my son's life!"

I struggled, but I couldn't break loose.

"Clint, let go of me!"

I strained with everything I had, but I wasn't as strong as him.

His grip never loosened, though his voice stayed gentle.

"Yolanda, you have to cooperate with the investigation, or you'll never clear yourself of the trafficking charge."

Off to the side, Nanette covered her mouth and laughed.

She watched the farce play out for a while before finally calling someone to pull Lola off me.

Clint let go at once.

I slumped to the floor.

My face burned with pain, one earlobe was torn, and there was a lot of hair scattered on the floor where it had been ripped out.

Nanette straightened up.

"Yolanda Joyce, whether you want to cooperate today or not, you will."

"As mall management, we have a duty to handle sudden incidents like this."

"If you keep refusing to cooperate, we'll have no choice but to escort you to the office for questioning by force."

She waved her hand, and four security guards closed in around me.

"What do you want?"

I took a step back.

"This is unlawful detention."

"You're suspected of child trafficking. Take her away."

Two guards reached out to grab me.

One held down my left shoulder, the other seized my right arm.

A third pressed the bar of a riot fork against my chest, pinning me hard against the wall.

"Let go of me!"

I struggled, and my shoulder blade went numb under the pressure.

"Stop struggling."

Nanette stepped up in front of me.

"Are you going to walk on your own, or do you want them to drag you out?"

The pain was so bad I couldn't speak.

Lola stood off to the side, stamping her feet in a panic.

"She's just stalling for time. Hurry up and take her away, hurry up and find my son..."

"I'm not going."

I forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"I'll accept an investigation by the law, but I won't accept an investigation by you people."

Nanette gave a cold laugh.

"Talking tough, are you? Fine, then drag her out."

Two guards hauled me hard toward the staff corridor.

My left shoulder was nearly dislocated from the pressure, and blood ran down from the cut on my earlobe, trickling down my neck.

The onlookers followed behind, holding up their phones to film.

A young girl shouted.

"You can't do this! She hasn't been convicted!"

Nanette turned around.

"Ma'am, if you're going to disrupt order in the mall, we have the right to ask you to leave."

The girl fell silent at once.

I was dragged three feet, then five...

Any second now I'd be through the staff corridor.

The on-screen comments went wild.

Call the police now! Don't let them take you away!

There's a white van in the back alley. Those people have already been paid off. Get in that van and you'll be killed!

Behind the staff corridor is the stairwell. Go down, take the fire escape, and in five minutes you'll be at the back alley.

I shouted in a rush.

"Call the police! Somebody call the police for me!"

"Everyone here, listen carefully! My name is Yolanda Joyce, ID number 4401. I'm being unlawfully detained! If I don't make it out of this mall tonight, please remember this name!"

Nanette's face changed when she heard it.

"Shut her up!"

A guard's hand came down over my face.

Just then, someone in the crowd shouted.

"The police are here!"

It turned out someone in the crowd had already called the police.

The officer's gaze swept across the whole scene.

I was being dragged along by two security guards. Lola had a fist in my collar, Nanette stood off to the side, and Clint wore a look like none of it had anything to do with him.

"What are you doing? Let her go!"

The guards' hands let go at once.

I gasped for air and slowly climbed to my feet.

The officer came over and looked me over.

"You were the one shouting to call the police? What's going on?"

I wiped some of the blood off myself and spoke.

"Officer, someone has falsely accused me of child trafficking, and the mall management is trying to illegally detain me."

Lola reacted first, quickly squeezing out some tears.

"Officer, you're finally here!"

"My son was taken by hershe's a child trafficker!"

The moment he heard the words "child trafficker," the officer's eyes turned wary as he looked at me.

I explained right away.

"I've never had any contact with her child. I said all along that I wanted to call the police, but they wouldn't let me."

"The property manager wants to illegally detain me over a three-second screenshot from the CCTV!"

Nanette's expression shifted, and she spoke up at once.

"Officer, I'm the mall's property manager. This really does involve a missing child, and we're handling it"

The officer's face darkened.

"What evidence have you found to pin her as a trafficker?"

Nanette hesitated a moment.

"We're still investigating, but Yolanda Joyce won't cooperate and keeps making a scene here"

I gave a cold laugh.

"You have no law enforcement authority. Why should I cooperate with you?"

"You've got the numbers, so in a public place you dare to lay hands on me. If you'd taken me away, whatever you did to me, who could I go to about it?"

I stared at her.

"If you have evidence, then show it here in the open!"

"Otherwise I'll defend my rightsincluding damage to my reputation, slander and defamation, and physical assault!"

I said it with total conviction, and the people around me couldn't help but start to waver.

The officer looked at Lola and Nanette.

"Tell me, how did the child go missing?"

Lola let out another wail.

"I brought my child to the mall to play, but I only stepped into the restroom for a second, and when I came out he was gone."

"The property manager helped me look into it, and an hour agoright when my child went missingYolanda Joyce took my son away!"

Nanette produced the surveillance video.

Timestamp 8:30 p.m.: a woman leading a child out of the mall through the north gate.

The camera caught only the woman's backwearing the same coat as me.

Lola shouted.

"Look! She's the one who took my son!"

Everyone looked at my coat, their eyes turning suspicious again.

I shook my head.

"That's not me."

Lola screamed in fury.

"Of course you won't admit it."

The officer was watching me too.

"Going by the evidence, you really are a suspect. When the child went missing, the last one seen with him was you."

I still shook my head.

"I have proof that it wasn't me."

I pulled a movie ticket stub out of my coat pocket.

The top floor of the mall, Starlight Cinemas.

Film title: Chinese Restaurant in France

Showtime: 7:00 p.m.

I handed the stub over.

"The movie started at 7:00 and let out at 8:40."

"The footage shows the child left the mall with someone at 8:30, so it wasn't me!"

Nanette's lips twitched.

"You could have left the theater early"

"And what if I can prove I didn't come out early?"

I walked straight up to Clint and took my phone out of his pocket.

He moved to stop me, but caught the officer's eyes and held back.

I raised the phone and opened the video I'd already saved.

Everyone craned their necks, and the moment they saw what was on the screen, every face changed.