My Sons Famous Girlfriend Mistook Me For His Rival

The invitation to appear alongside Griffin Shaw’s protégé, Tessa Monroe, felt like a deliberate provocation. The moment the livestream opened, the comments section exploded, mostly praising me: [Holy cow, that’s classic Hollywood-era elegance. Who’s the new A-lister?] [Step aside, Tessa. This woman is a goddess.] Tessa Monroe offered a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You look so familiar, ma’am,” she said, tilting her head. “You remind me of the woman in that notorious viral clip. The one doing… well, that… with Pierce Shaw in his Rolls-Royce Cullinan.” I froze. Everyone watching knew Pierce Shaw was my husband. Griffin’s father. Tessa clapped a hand over her mouth in a mock gasp. “Oh, I must be mistaken! Forgive me, ma’am. You couldn’t possibly be that kind of person. I’m just rambling, everyone, please disregard!” I smiled—a practiced, steel-edged smile. “No mistake, Tessa.” The air thickened. Every camera lens seemed to zoom in, and the torrent of live comments stuttered into a stunned silence. “When Griffin brought you home to meet the family,” I continued, my voice smooth and low, “you called me ‘Mom.’”

1 The words “Pierce Shaw,” “had sex in the car” and “that kind of person” hung in the sudden, absolute silence of the studio. I watched Tessa’s performance. “Tessa, you don’t recognize me?” It was only three months ago that my son, Griffin, had proudly video-called me from our living room, introducing his supposed future fiancée. Tessa had been all sweet deference and had addressed me as “Mom” with a sickeningly saccharine lilt. Now, she seemed to have forgotten the face of the woman she was trying to replace. Revealing my identity now, in this setting, would shatter this event and, worse, embarrass my son for his awful taste. I decided to play the long game. “You must be mistaken,” I told her, keeping my tone light. “I haven’t been in any such video.” Tessa widened her eyes in feigned confusion. “Oh, but I’m almost sure. It was near The Grand Magnolia Hotel, around eleven-thirty at night. A black Cullinan, the customized one with the Connecticut plates. I’m so sorry, am I giving away too many details?” She fluttered her hands at the camera. “Everyone, seriously, please don’t look into this! I’m just talking out of turn. My lovely fans, you must promise not to go searching!” My composure cracked. In the age of the internet, a few precise details were all it took to get someone doxed. Tessa was spoon-feeding her followers the exact coordinates to destroy me. When Griffin first brought her name up, I told Pierce I had a bad feeling about the girl. Something felt off, too calculated. Now I knew what it was. This girl was a master manipulator. A Hollowwood hack with A-list acting skills. It was no wonder she had my son wrapped around her finger. But I wasn’t worried. Pierce and I had driven past The Grand Magnolia that night, but we certainly weren’t childish enough to be making a viral spectacle. Sure enough, the search failed to turn up any concrete evidence. I decided to give her one final chance to step back. I smiled again. “Tessa, you’re definitely misremembering. Pierce and I weren’t doing anything like that.” Her eyes darted away for a millisecond. She pressed her lips together, adopting a thoughtful pose. “You’re right, ma’am. You’re totally right. After all, the video was taken down quickly. Without proof, it’s just my word against yours.” My jaw tightened. She was characterizing a lie as a suppressed truth. Immediately, her fan club began flooding the comments: [Tessa says that, but I remember seeing it too! The time, the location, the car—it all checks out. Then poof, it vanished.] [Standard. The star of the video is Pierce Shaw. The Shaw Group’s PR is brutal. Of course, they’d scrub it.] [Wow. Didn’t realize the beautiful lady was so… adventurous. And with the older generation, too!] [Follow for a link to the uncensored version of Veronica Shaw’s content!] [+1!] [+1!] [I’m following!] I scowled. Though I looked closer to Tessa’s age, the host knew my true age. I glanced at him, expecting him to interject and clarify my identity, but he was watching the screen with a look of pure, cynical amusement. He and Tessa exchanged a fleeting, conspiratorial glance. The host, who I now realized Tessa must have introduced, cleared his throat. “Let’s not dwell on this,” he announced. “Whatever Ms. Shaw has done, it is her private business. Can we please move on with the event?” [??? Private business? So you admit Veronica Shaw slept with Pierce Shaw!] The host threw his hands up. “I didn’t say that!” [Exactly! You know what kind of guest you have! I thought we were getting another iconic face on the scene! Turns out it’s just a high-class call girl!] When Tessa saw the mention of herself as “the other iconic face,” her eyes momentarily darkened—a flicker of pure, untamed ambition. When she spoke, she was trembling, on the verge of tears. “Oh, please, I was just making an innocent comment! You mustn’t speculate about Ms. Shaw like this! Spreading malicious rumors about women is terrible!” [If she doesn’t want rumors, she shouldn’t be a homewrecker. And with the older generation! Pierce Shaw could be her father! Disgusting!] [Tessa is so genuine. She climbed to the A-list on her talent alone.] “Please, stop!” Tessa’s eyes were glistening red. “I was just talking casually. It’s unfair to speculate without any hard evidence.” [Tessa is such an angel!] [She’s defending the very woman who’s attacking her! I’m a fan for life!] “You all…” Tessa’s face was a study in tortured helplessness. She turned to me. “Ms. Shaw, my fans are young and perhaps a little overzealous. Please don’t be angry. I promise to educate them later!” “Have you staged enough of a scene, Tessa?” I asked, my voice cutting through the noise. She recoiled. “Ms. Shaw, what are you implying?” “I’m saying your cheap parlor tricks are something my colleagues tossed out eight hundred years ago,” I scoffed. “If you truly didn’t want your fans to misunderstand, why did you offer such perfectly precise details at the beginning? You get to play the victim and the moral high ground simultaneously. Your target is left eating dust, afraid to fight back against your mob. You’ve run this play many times, haven’t you? And it always works.” Tessa’s face went white. I leaned in, ensuring my voice wouldn’t carry to the mic. “And even if your malicious lie were true, what gives you the right to comment? You are a Hollowwood hack. The affairs of the Shaw family are not your business.” Tessa covered her mouth dramatically. “Ma’am, you’re being cruel…” I looked down at her. “I’m giving you one last chance. Clarify your mistake to the entire streaming audience. I will allow you that one shred of dignity.” The host intervened, frowning. “Ms. Shaw, what does Tessa need to clarify? She merely mentioned things she saw.” I fixed the host with a cold stare. “A hired mouthpiece thinks he can weigh in on the Shaw family’s business?” “You!” Tessa burst into perfect, glistening tears. She was stunning in her sorrow. “You are going too far!” Then, she pulled out a phone and dialed a number. A familiar voice instantly filled the room, sounding close. “Wifey? What’s up? Miss me already?” The comments section went ballistic: [OH MY GOD, whose voice is that?! It’s Griffin Shaw! The CEO’s heir!] Tessa sobbed harder. “Griffin… someone is being mean to me…” 3 [It IS Griffin Shaw! The ice-cold heir to the Shaw Group! Did you hear what he just said?! Wifey! They’re dating!] [My daughter is the best!] I stared, a cold knot forming in my stomach. Pierce and I had raised Griffin to be measured, almost pathologically calm. He was panting into the phone. He must truly be in love with this girl. Fine, I thought. He needs to see her true face. Tessa suddenly wailed. “And it gets worse! This woman is being slandered by cruel rumors, and when I tried to defend her, she slapped me with an insult and said I was the one trying to stage a scene!” The comments exploded again: [I was here! I saw it! Tessa is telling the truth!] [I actually thought the old woman was beautiful at first. Turns out she’s a tramp!] Tessa cried harder, and the host rushed to take her off-camera. “We need to pause the stream. Tessa is very distressed.” The feed was cut. I went backstage, only to find Tessa dramatically convulsing with sobs. “Griffin… am I not good enough for you? Am I a terrible person?” Over the phone, Griffin’s voice was molten with adoration. “Absolutely not. Don’t listen to that trash. I swear to you, baby, I will never marry anyone but you.” My eye twitched. “Ahem.” I cleared my throat, stepping closer. Tessa immediately pressed her hand over the phone’s mic, blocking my voice from reaching Griffin. Her eyes were red, but the malice was clear. “Why would you say such things, ma’am? Even if you and Pierce have some pathetic, under-the-table arrangement, it’s between Griffin and me. You aren’t Pierce’s real wife. You have no right to interfere.” I raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I am Pierce’s real wife. And Griffin’s biological mother.” She froze. Then, a chilling smile curled her lips. “You just admitted that yourself, Mrs. Shaw.” I blinked. What was she playing at? She slowly raised a second phone. The stream that was supposed to be cut was alive and well on her other device. The comments raced: [SHE ADMITTED IT! SHE REALLY DID SLEEP WITH PIERCE SHAW!] [Unbelievable! I thought she had class! Now they’re all this fake.] [Pierce Shaw just played with a piece of meat. She actually thinks she’s the First Lady of the Shaw Group? LOL.] [First time I’ve seen a woman so publicly own her status as a mistress. Wait until the real Mrs. Shaw finds out!] Griffin’s confused voice came over the line. Tessa immediately put the phone to her ear. “It’s nothing, Griffin, only… only that woman is harassing me again… Baby, what am I going to do?” Griffin’s voice trembled with protective rage. “Don’t worry, I’m canceling my entire schedule. Send me your location. I’m coming now, baby.” I got goosebumps from the sheer sweetness of his tone, but the comments were delighted: [Listen to Griffin! He sounds like he’s melting! That’s the ice-cold heir of a Fortune 500 company!] [Tessa has him wrapped around her little finger!] I took a deep, steadying breath. I narrowed my eyes at Tessa. “All right, if you want to play dirty, don’t blame me for the fallout.” I turned and walked away. If Griffin was coming, so much the better. I was ready to ask my son, the supposed future CEO of the Shaw Group, how he could be so breathtakingly naive. 4 The stream resumed shortly. Before the host could speak, Tessa addressed me directly. “Ms. Shaw, you still haven’t clarified the rumors about you and Pierce. Don’t you want to?” I chuckled. “Clarify? Absolutely. I’m going to clarify my entire identity. And then I’m going to press charges for slander and doxing.” Tessa’s eyes reddened. “Do you really want me to release the hard evidence, ma’am?” “Oh? Did you find the footage of Pierce and me in bed?” Tessa bit her lip. “You’re asking for it.” She nodded to the host, who directed everyone’s attention to the large screen behind us. The screen displayed a high-resolution, time-stamped surveillance photo of Pierce and me, clearly in our Cullinan, driving past The Grand Magnolia Hotel late that night. [OMG! It really IS Pierce Shaw and Veronica Shaw! Driving past a high-end hotel late at night! You know what that means!] “Well, Ms. Shaw,” Tessa said, eyes gleaming. “What do you have to say now?” I smiled back. “Just a photo? So what?” A few dissenting comments finally began to pop up: [Hold on, the mob is getting terrifying. There’s no hard evidence, but everyone is acting like they saw the sex tape. Internet, be rational!] [I agree. Tessa’s initial claim about a video was unsubstantiated. I feel like she’s trying to manipulate the narrative.] Seeing the tide turn, Tessa began to panic. I watched her, supremely composed. “What’s next? You have more evidence? Did you break into my house and plant cameras?” Tessa sneered. “No need for that.” The screen suddenly filled with a heavily pixelated video. The audio, however, was clear and sickeningly suggestive. Moans and gasps rose and fell. The thing that sent a cold chill down my spine: the female voice was unmistakably mine. The faces, though heavily obscured, were clearly Pierce’s and mine. [??? MOMMY, MY EYES!] [HOLY CRAP, it’s real! What about all those people who said Tessa was lying? Say something now!] [I can’t believe Veronica Shaw is so shameless…] The video was a patchwork of blurring and clear faces, deceptively authentic. I stared at the screen, my blood turning to ice. “Did you really spend your morning AI-deep-faking Pierce and me?” The host looked indignant. “Ms. Shaw, own up to your actions. Don’t blame A.I. for everything! Tessa wanted to give you a chance to save face, but you were the one who kept pushing.” [Exactly! She asked for the hammer!] [The entertainment industry is a joke.] [No! Tessa is the clean one!] Tessa wiped a tear from her eye. “Ma’am, you forced my hand. If I hadn’t released this, you would have escalated your attack against me. I tried to give you a chance to explain…” Watching the flawlessly fabricated video—the fake face and voice—I was done. I looked at the sniveling woman and the complicit host. My patience snapped. I stood up to leave. “Where are you going, ma’am?” Tessa rushed forward to grab me. I shrugged her off, but she lunged again. “Ms. Shaw!” She aimed for my collar. With a strong tug, she ripped the fabric, exposing a large portion of my shoulder. “Enough!” My palm cracked against her cheek. Tessa stumbled back, clutching her face, then screamed, “Griffin! It hurts!” Griffin? I turned, just as a familiar, enraged voice boomed through the studio. “Grab her! Hold her down!” Before I could react, two of Griffin’s private security guards grabbed me from behind, slamming me to the ground. My knee hit the floor with a sickening thud, swelling instantly. “You damn tramp! Harassing the future Mrs. Shaw! You’ve got a death wish!” They twisted my arm to look at my face. “M-Mrs. Shaw?!” The hands instantly released me. Griffin stood a few feet away, his back to me, cradling a sobbing Tessa. “Is your face swelling? Does it hurt? I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have left you alone.” “M-Mr. Shaw…” one of the bodyguards stammered. “Shut up! Can’t you see I’m busy?” “Mr. Shaw… the Mrs.…” “What Mrs.—” Griffin turned, annoyed, and saw me being helped up by his stunned security team, my face a mask of cold fury. He stopped breathing.