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.
