Chapter 5

I looked at Tiffany without a flicker of feeling. She wore the smug little face of someone who'd finally won, her eyes glittering with the pleasure of mocking me.

I turned to the nurse. "This young lady stole my bank card. She'll be settling my bill."

Tiffany's mouth pulled down at once, all wounded innocence. "Sis, when did I ever steal your card? If it's really yours, why don't you know the PIN?"

"I think you've had your eye on my money. You're nothing but a stray with nowhere to go. I'll have you sent to prison, and let the criminals in there teach you a lesson for me." She made a show of pulling out her phone to call the police.

I could see she hadn't even unlocked the screen. She just stood there in front of me, playing out a phone call with police who weren't on the line.

"Oh, and if you kneel down for me right now, I'll hang up this second." She watched me the way you'd watch a show, waiting for me to drop to my knees and burst into tears.

Every old wound, every humiliation flared hot in my chest all at once. I reached out and snatched the purple-crystal necklace straight off her throat. "This necklace belongs to me. Since I don't want it anymore, we'll let it cover the debt."

"You vile woman! Look, my neck's all red!" Tiffany clutched her reddened throat and bent over, the picture of someone in agony.

Robert came rushing over, suit jacket thrown carelessly over his shoulders. "Tiffany, what happened?"

Before he reached us, she raked her own hand across her neck. In an instant, five raw welts of blood opened on that pale skin.

I didn't get a word out before she threw herself against Robert's chest, sobbing. "Sis said the necklace was hers and ripped it right off me, then ordered me to kneel down and apologize to her."

Robert looked at the blood seeping along Tiffany's throat, and his breathing turned heavy. He didn't even ask what had actually happened. "You used to be so gentle. What's gotten into you, hounding Tiffany like this again and again?"

I said nothing. I just looked at him, calm.

I knew exactly what I was to him now. A clown whose only job was to keep the woman he loved happy.

Red threaded through his eyes in a heartbeat, and he looked at me like a beast about to swallow me whole. "You like kneeling so much? Now it's your turn. Kneel for Tiffany."

He waved a hand. The bodyguards took it as permission, and the stun batons came down on me like rain. I covered my head with both hands and let them beat me. The pain climbed higher and higher. I pressed my lips together and bit down on the tip of my tongue, refusing to let out even one moan.

Robert was fully past the edge now. He drove his knee straight into the backs of my legs. I had no defense for it and dropped, kneeling on the floor.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair, his eyes full of violence. "Still acting tough? Let's see exactly how long you can keep it up."

With that, he ordered the bodyguards to lock me away in an abandoned factory.

He watched, cold and detached, as they shoved me roughly into the car. "I'm taking Tiffany to the banquet shortly. Once I've announced the good news about my child, I'll come and bring you back myself."

The softest place in me was pierced all over again. For his happiness, I'd become the stone in his path to kick aside.

"You're going to sit there and think hard about what you've done. I don't want to see that stubborn face of yours anymore."

I chose to ignore him. I simply pulled the car window up, leaving only Robert's voice behind, flat and stripped of feeling.

It wasn't long before the bodyguards delivered me to the abandoned factory. As they left, they released a dozen-odd venomous snakes inside.

The air reeked of mold. The snakes flicked their tongues and slithered toward me. I could hear, clear as anything, the dry scrape of scales against the floor.

I couldn't let these snakes bite me.

I tried to open the factory door, but it wouldn't budge no matter what I did. I pounded on it, hoping the bodyguards hadn't gone far, hoping someone would let me out.

But no matter how hard I beat on the door or how loudly I called for help, no one came. All I could do was struggle up onto a high platform inside the factory.

I watched the snakes twist their bodies and lift their sinister heads, scales catching the thin light in eerie glints.

It wasn't until nightfall that the factory door suddenly opened, and Robert walked in, his face dark.

"This time I invited famous names from every circle to celebrate my baby with me." He looked at me, his face like ice.

"So you dumped me in this rundown factory out in the suburbs? And to keep me from running, you tossed in all these snakes to bite me?" I looked at him, hollowed out with disappointment.

That soft place inside me gave way and crumbled.

Robert lowered his eyes. "I'll grant you one request."

When I stayed silent, he turned to leave.

Then I called out his name. "Robert. That island you promised me. Does that offer still stand?"

He thought for a few seconds, then turned back around. "It stands. Didn't you say you didn't want it before?"

I shook my head. "I've thought it through. I want it. And the contract's already drawn up. It's right there in that Maserati you're driving, tucked under the leather seat on the passenger side."

"Just sign, and I promise I'll never bother you and Tiffany again."

Robert nodded and headed out to the sports car. Three minutes later he came back with the stack of contracts.

"Signed. Remember, don't go back on your word." He dropped the line and left at once.

I picked up the contracts and read them through, slowly. Every one carried his careless signature. He hadn't even noticed that tucked inside the island deed was a divorce agreement.

Half an hour after the sports car roared off, I picked up a long wooden stick, flicked the snakes aside one by one, and walked out of that place for good.

The dark covered my escape. I flagged down a cab in a rush and made it to the airport, booking the earliest flight to Westport. There, I couriered every piece of evidence of Robert's crimes, along with the divorce agreement, to my lawyer.

Before the plane took off, I dropped my SIM card straight into the trash. I'd never need that number again.

Years ago, Robert and I had walked hand in hand into the carrier store to set up a couple's plan. He'd said it was the only way every other man would know I was taken, that he wanted to announce to the whole world that I was his woman.

Robert. I hope we never see each other again.