2: 2

Bang! The next second, the door slammed open.

Gretchen Cobb burst in, eyes red, fury rolling off her.

She had a fistful of Joy's hair from behind, and with everything she had, she flung the girl and the snake both hard against the windowsill.

"Get off her! Don't touch her!"

Joy lost her footing and hit the floor.

The little snake in her hand arced through the air and landed right by my feet.

Gretchen swallowed hard, her jaw shaking.

She was just like me. She was terrified of these soft, crawling things too.

Her hands hovered in the air, trembling, but she couldn't make herself touch it.

"Hurry! Untie me! I'll throw it out!"

Gretchen snapped out of it and fumbled at the rope.

But Milton had tied it too tight.

She'd barely gotten it half undone when one of Milton's buddies grabbed her and dragged her against him.

His eyes crawled over her body, inch by inch, shameless.

"So this is the Gretchen you keep talking about?"

"You're a good friend, you know that? A real one. Saving a sweet little thing like this for me."

He traded a knowing look with Milton, a nasty smile pulling at his mouth.

Something in me dropped.

They'd planned this all along!

No wonder Milton had insisted, over and over back at the hotel, that Gretchen come keep me company.

He was going to hand her over to someone as a favor!

Gretchen went white with fear and tried to break loose, but the guy was too strong. He wrenched her forearm back and pinned it to the wall.

The little snake was inching closer to her, half a meter away now!

Gretchen couldn't hold it in any longer. She screamed, tears spilling down her face all at once.

"You should be grateful I'd even look at you. Nobody wants you anyway, so you might as well make me happy."

Milton arched his brow, pleased with himself. Joy filmed it, thrilled.

Nobody noticed the rope at my wrists had already gone slack in the corner.

I shot to my feet, lunged across the room, caught the silver snake behind its head, and shoved it hard into the man's mouth.

"Let go of her!"

He jerked back, startled, and gave half a step.

Gretchen took the chance to run to me, clutching me tight, wiping at her tears.

I crushed the little snake underfoot and threw it down by Joy.

Milton, who'd been enjoying the show a second ago, went dark in the face.

Veins stood out on his forehead as he roared,

"Frieda Simmons! Have you lost your mind? My buddy was just joking around. Was that really necessary?"

Joy's tears came in an instant.

"Milton, I didn't think your wife couldn't take a joke like this. Fine, she hates me, but she couldn't even spare one little snake. Poor thing…"

Milton wiped her tears for her, aching over her, then turned to me with ice in his eyes.

"Frieda Simmons, I didn't realize how out of line you could be."

"After this, you're going to apologize to Joy!"

I stared at him and laughed, furious.

He couldn't see how the snake had drained the color from my face.

He couldn't see his friend putting his hands all over Gretchen.

I'd only fought back, only protected myself, and somehow I was the criminal.

"Why should I? She's the one who scared me first!"

His eyes went cold as knives and drove straight into me.

"There are this many people here. Would it kill everyone to just have a good time?"

"You insist on humiliating me in front of them, then don't blame me for being cruel!"

Watching that cold look on his face, an uneasy dread crept through me.

I gripped Gretchen's arm and shielded her with everything I had.

He gave a cold snort and kicked over the box at his feet.

Dozens of snakes, coiling everywhere!

My throat clenched. I nearly threw up.

So he'd had this ready too.

"Milton, this is supposed to be your wedding day with Frieda. Do you really have to pull something like this?"

Gretchen's brow was tight as she put out a hand to shield me.

She wanted to get me out of this poisoned room.

But Milton's face stayed cold as he stepped half a pace forward, blocking the way.

"Want to leave? Not that easy!"

3: 3

My phone shattered in his hand, and my ID sailed out in a long arc across the room.

Even Gretchen's bag got snatched away.

"You're a Vance now. There's no such thing as walking out whenever you please."

He ground his back teeth, biting off each word, and sneered.

"Besides, all my friends are right here. Where does that leave my face?"

My temple throbbed, my eyes burned red, but I forced the emotion down.

He'd been scheming against me the whole time.

Locking me in here was all for Joy's sake, so she could get her revenge.

When I said nothing, the smile in Joy's eyes went deeper.

"Don't blame Milton. He and I grew up together. What we have runs a lot deeper than anything you've got with him."

"You killed my little snake. Of course he's angry."

"Kneel at my feet and beg me to forgive you, or you're not walking out that door today!"

A snake not even half as thick as the ones on my family's farm, and they thought they could stop me?

"Move."

Milton clamped down on my wrist, hard enough to crush the bone.

I brought my hand up and slapped him across the face.

He froze on the spot.

Tongue pushing against the inside of his cheek.

"Divorce."

Milton stared at me, and his eyes slowly went dark.

"Divorce? Fine."

His shoe kicked the box over, and dozens of snakes came pouring out, scrambling over each other.

They blocked the exit.

My face went white, my lips trembling as Gretchen and I backed away.

Milton's twisted face loomed close, grinning.

"Frieda Simmons, let's see how you get your divorce now."

The snakes all started sliding toward me at once, like they'd agreed on it.

My scalp went electric, cold sweat pouring off me.

There was nowhere to put my feet.

I scrambled up onto the bed, grabbed the lamp off the nightstand, and smashed it down at the nearest snake's head.

Gretchen was crying and shouting, swinging a thick pillow around near her.

"Frieda, this isn't going to work! We can't keep this up!"

As she spoke, the pillow swept through the air in an arc.

Joy shrieked and pointed at the snake crushed dead in the corner, eyes brimming with tears as she ran to Milton to tattle.

"Milton, those are my dearest friends, and she just murdered them! She's a monster!"

Milton's face went cold, and he dropped his voice.

"Enough!"

"Frieda Simmons, all you got was one bite, but Joy lost the friend she loved most!"

The two of them fed each other lines, painting me into some killer who tortured things to death.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the whiskey, and my heart leapt. I grabbed it and splashed it fast across the floor.

The black shapes went scattering in every direction.

For a moment I could breathe.

Then the bedroom door swung open, and Milton's aunt pushed her way in.

Two burly men came in behind her.

This was the same aunt who'd wished us a hundred years of happiness at the reception, and now her face was tight as she jabbed a finger at me and yelled.

"What's all this racket? They can hear you clear out in the hall. Don't throw our kindness back in our faces!"

"The Vance family won't put up with a temper like yours! Won't behave, then we'll tie you to the bedpost and leave you there all night!"

Milton's mouth curled up, pleased, and he locked the door behind them.

The aunt came toward me with a coil of red rope thick as an arm, smiling.

"Frieda, run! Get out of here!"

4: 4

Gretchen threw herself at me to pull me free, and one of the men kicked her flat to the floor.

My eyes went red in an instant.

I lurched toward her, my body pitching forward without my say-so.

Milton clamped my chin, gripping with everything he had.

"Your family deliberately used money to humiliate me. Now it's your turn to find out what it feels like to be ground under someone's heel."

My family knew he didn't have much. My father paid for the wedding motorcade and the hotel.

He had no ability of his own, so he laid that debt at my feet.

I sucked in a breath and clenched my teeth.

"Milton, you bastard! I will never let you get away with this!"

Aunt Penelope rolled her eyes and slapped my face with the flat of her hand.

"Still won't back down?"

She shot Joy a look.

"Teach her a lesson. Being a daughter-in-law of the Vances isn't the easy ride she thinks it is!"

Something cold touched my skin and my body jerked before I could stop it.

The thing coiled around my arm, twice.

"Frieda! No!"

Gretchen screamed until her voice tore, clawing at the floor to get up and help me.

The man just pinned the back of her hand under his boot.

The pain was so bad she couldn't even cry out.

I could feel the slick weight of it working its way into the skirt of my wedding dress.

"You'll regret this."

I lifted my eyes and burned their faces into my memory, my voice cold enough to sting.

"Everything I'm taking tonight, I'll pay back tenfold!"

"Hmph. You?"

Aunt Penelope folded her arms, looking down at me with contempt.

"You belong to my family now. The house and the car are ours. However great your so-called ability is, you'll never crawl out of the Vances' grip!"

Milton got even bolder, pulling out his phone and shoving the camera right up to my face.

"Say it to the camera. Say, I was wrong, I shouldn't have stepped on Joy's snake, I got what I deserved."

"Say it and I'll let you go."

I bit down on my lip until blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

Then I snapped upright and slammed my head into the phone, knocking it from his hand.

Milton's eyes went red at once. He seized my collar in both fists and moved to smash my head against the wall.

Then, out of nowhere, a chaos of footsteps came from outside.

The door crashed to the floor.

My father stood in the doorway, a six-foot king python still writhing in his left hand, an open iron cage in his right.

The snake flicked its tongue, hissing.