The more I think about it though, the more I guess that Vivian might have instigated it... sort of. With the tests (the kiss, the dress, the "turn up/don't turn up" to dinner), Christian has already been manipulating Vivian towards this end. He says later "the door is right there ... just leave... no one is stopping you", and also "I may have to lay off people... salesmen..." He's always just hinting, just insinuating, but not actually saying what he means, he's letting Vivian work it out for herself. That means he can technically deny ever saying it.
its clear that vivian instigated it as the SC Stories shows the scene when hutch tries to have a friendly talk but is met with stares from both vivian and christian and after that when christian leaves the room to we can see vivian deciding for herself that she has to everything to fix this. it's clearly shown by the dev. if you don't get it you have to replay it(it's a clearly showing what's gonna happen)... another aspect is if the dev was to show the dialogue in the backyard it would not have the same impact as leaving it to the reader's imagination. and the insinuation and manipulations(like you have noted) done by christian even after he knows that hutch know about then and doing what even he can to manipulate them. and the last statement deny yes but that's not what we are debating about... its if vivian humiliating hutch or not( for now she is dumb enough to think thats she is protecting which is just a excuse people tell themselves to justify they are doing).
I see her not driven by an aim to hurt but by ego, panic, interest, hubris, sense of self-importance and, yes, an underlying growing contempt against her husband. This is as always mixed with pity, trying to be helpful, protectiveness for her family etc
well put dealbreaker... this is what i meant but didn't get the point across when tony was in favor of vivian googling and giving hutch advice on how to do his job.
Vivian is trying to protect Hutch. You might not think it's the right way to do it, you might not think it's possible to do it, but she shows that it's her mindset:
"He can never know. He doesn't deserve to carry that pain. It would destroy him."
"I have to carry it for both of us... I have to!"
this can be viewed another way like you stated about the code talk .... if they don't talk about it doesn't become real.its like they have some twisted logic of love and relations which can only be understood if SC Stories took some liberties(logic breaking reasons) with that situation. if she had the foresight and understanding before she went to her husband office wouldn't it have been better(bad only for the reader). of listen even once to what hutch was telling her. as dealbreaker phrased it wonderfully i'm not gonna repeat it. if you look at the whole update you can see the parts/scenes are all interconnected and telling a logical sequence that the dev wants to tell us.since there are some unknown variable the view/theories/speculations are so varied. just to summaries...vivian is the instrument christian is using to humiliate hutch as he has done so with many other couple. now the speculation part... vivian isn't humiliating hutch at least that what she thinks ... couldn't she have googled that like she did at the start. later on.... if everything goes according to christians kinks... which is humiliating husband using the wife.... then vivian maybe a complicit in that.
In acting recklessly, Vivian would be fucking Christian knowing that there was a risk of Hutch finding out and being hurt by it, but she disregarded that risk. There is a difference, and that is precisely what I have been trying to say.
(Caveat: not a lawyer, but knows Google.)
don't see this logic at all or train of thought.... even if you are acting with purpose or recklessly... doesn't everyone think about making a decision(this is real world logic bleeding into the vn)...after having read some of the other posts .... no woman in real-life would do that to her loving husband what vivian did(that's just my view). some pointed out that vivian is the dominant one in the relationship and takes care of everything... if she did, then how did she not think about the consequence.
googling is what lead to the vn.... nice so with google everyone talks about law. like vivian thinks she can do her husbands job. nice touch there tony
PS: i have assumed most if not all of us being men.... and even posted when someone asked about what the 2 women would be talking about in the bar sneakpeek that SC Stories posted. and i seems i'm the youngest, relationship wise so i'll leave the complexities of a long relationship to better knowledgeable men.