2: 2
When I got home, Bianca was lounging on the couch watching a show, and Liam was fussing over her, feeding her fruit like she was made of glass.
The moment he saw me, he set the fruit plate down, and his face went cold. "Why are you back so late? Bianca's starving."
I didn't answer. I lowered my head and went to the kitchen to make dinner.
Five years ago, when we started dating, he treated me well. He gave me anything I wanted, and even Bianca, my best friend, used to say she envied me.
Back then I'd just lost my family, and I thought the two of them were my salvation. I never guessed the whole thing was a setup.
Bianca ate one shrimp, then suddenly clutched her stomach and cried out in pain.
Liam's hand cracked across my face. "Amber, you poisoned the food."
I held my cheek and shook my head. "I didn't."
Bianca clawed at his arm, her voice tight with pain. "Liam, take me to the hospital, hurry, save our baby."
He shot me one hate-filled look, then scooped her up and left.
I knew what this was. Another one of Bianca's little games. Every time she wanted something, she'd frame me for hurting her.
Then Liam would step in on her behalf, and if I refused, it would trigger the punishment. I'd be tormented half to death, and end up handing over whatever she wanted with both hands.
Sure enough, the moment Bianca was discharged, Liam opened his mouth. "Didn't your mother leave you a family heirloom pendant, the kind that wards off bad luck and protects a pregnancy? Take it out and give it to Bianca."
"You nearly killed her. She can't sleep now. She needs that pendant to keep the baby safe."
That pendant was the last thing my mother left me. She said it had been passed down from my grandmother. It was the most precious thing I owned, and I'd kept it locked in a safe-deposit box at the bank the whole time. How could he possibly know about it?
He saw the shock on my face, and his eyes turned mocking. "If the renewal bill for the safe-deposit box hadn't come to the house, I never would've known you were hiding something that good."
Then, in a burst of anger, he clamped his hand around my throat. "You watched Bianca suffer through morning sickness, and you didn't take it out for her? That's cold. She's your best friend, and she's carrying your boyfriend's child."
Shameless, every word of it. My face flushed under his grip, my breath thinning, but I still couldn't stop myself from throwing it back at him.
"You call yourself my boyfriend, but what have you actually done? Why should I hand over the pendant to protect her pregnancy?"
The words were barely out when that mechanical voice went off in my head again.
"Host emotional fluctuation detected. Setting for lovesick devotion violated. Punishment will now be administered."
"1, 2, 3."
My whole body seized at once, and the color drained from my face.
Liam let go with a sneer. I hit the floor and started convulsing, wretched and shaking, foam bubbling at my lips.
"Amber, we're doing this to help you. You told me yourself, you've got a lovesick system inside you. The only way to make it disappear is to turn you into a true lovesick devotee."
"Just agree to give the pendant to Bianca now, and you won't have to suffer."
Bianca chimed in too, all fake sincerity. "Amber, I sold myself out just to help you get free of that lovesick system as fast as possible. You can't be this stingy."
Back when the voice first started up in my head, I told Liam about it.
I thought it would make him love me more, keep me from getting hurt. Instead he brought Bianca home right away, and dressed it up as helping me shake off the lovesick system faster.
And I believed his story. I fought with him over it, and all it ever got me was a worse round of torment.
I never imagined it was all just an excuse, a way to torture me.
Disgusting, all of it. I'd bitten my lip open, and my palms were full of little bloody holes where my own nails had dug in.
"I'll give it to you."
