The standoff drew attention fast. Passersby slowed, heads turning, a crowd thickening around us like blood pooling at a wound.
Lena stepped forward, every inch the picture of heartbreak. Her eyes glistened. Her voice trembled. She looked like a woman who had swallowed every ounce of her pride just to stand there.
"Miss Sullivan, I'm begging you. Please give Curtis back to me."
"Curtis and I are truly in love. If you hadn't come between us, we would already be married."
"I've been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctors say I have one year left." Her voice cracked, perfectly timed. "All I want is to spend whatever time I have with the man I love. I don't want to die with regrets."
"Please. I'm begging you."
The crowd ate it up. Sympathy spread like wildfire, and every ounce of it turned into venom aimed at me.
"She's the other woman and she's making the real girlfriend kneel? The audacity!"
"Someone find out who she is. Shameless homewrecker. Didn't your mother teach you any decency?"
The insults multiplied, voices overlapping, growing louder.
I was the victim. I had always been the victim. And now, in the span of sixty seconds, I had become the villain.