I didn’t want to fight anymore. I forced a smile that felt like knives in my mouth and dragged myself to the kitchen.
The soup was boiling in the pot when I ladled it out and set it on the table. My hand ached from holding the heavy dish.
She wrinkled her nose immediately. “That’s it? This is the best you can do? It looks disgusting. Do you even know how to cook?”
I clenched my teeth, and whatever was left of my patience snapped. “Then don’t eat it,” I muttered.
Her eyes glinted with something cruel, and before I realized what was happening, she grabbed my wrist and shoved my hand straight into the scalding soup.
The pain shot up my arm like fire eating through my veins. I screamed and tried to pull away, but she pressed harder, pinning my hand down while the bowl rattled and spilled. The ceramic shattered against the floor and hot soup splashed everywhere.
I finally yanked free, clutching my wrist, but the skin was already swelling and blistering. My hand didn’t even feel like it belonged to me anymore.
I heard Wilbert’s footsteps rushing in when the bowl crashed. My hand was burning and throbbing, and before I could even catch my breath, Nivianne lifted her hand with fake tears in her eyes. “Wilbert, she threw soup on me. She got mad and did it on purpose. My hand hurts so much.”
He didn’t even think. His face turned dark, and he grabbed my wrist hard. “Anika! What’s wrong with you? Say sorry to Nivianne right now!”
The pain shot up my arm, and I bit down hard on my lip just to stop myself from screaming. I yanked my hand free and shoved it up in front of his face. My palm was swollen, raw, and blistered. “You want me to apologize? Look at this. Tell me who got burned and who did what.”
For a moment he froze. His eyes flicked between my hand and her pale face. He looked confused, maybe even doubting her. But before I could say more, she clutched her stomach and let out a dramatic wail. “Wilbert, my stomach… it hurts so much. There was peanut in that soup. I told you I’m allergic to peanut!” She gasped louder. “I only asked her one question and she lost her temper.”
“If you don’t believe me, check the cameras. I never lie, Wilbert!”
“Ah, my stomach, it hurts!”
I couldn’t believe her nerve. “I didn’t put peanut in it. Whoever is lying, the cameras will show it.”
Wilbert’s face twisted in anger again. His suspicion vanished like it was never there, and his eyes turned cold. “I told you she’s allergic. How could you?”
She buried her face in his chest, her voice weak and pitiful. “Don’t be angry at her, Wilbert. I know she hates me, but I don’t blame her. She just… she just hate me to death. Maybe I really need to leave.”
“No, you're not leaving, Nivianne.” He stopped her. “Anika! Apologize, now.”
“Wilbert, I'm telling you the tru—”
“Enough, Anika!” He scooped her up in his arms and barked at me, “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”
Then he turned to the butler. “Lock her in the basement. She’s not allowed out until I say so.”
My legs went weak. The basement. That damp, stinking place where he kept those snakes for Nivianne. I stumbled back, shaking my head. “No… please, not there. Don’t do this to me.”
I tried to fight as they dragged me, but my strength was nothing. The door slammed shut behind me, and the darkness pressed down heavy on my chest.
The silence was broken only by the soft, terrible hissing. My skin crawled, and something brushed over my ankle. I jumped and screamed, slapping at the floor, but there was nothing I could do.
“Open the door! Please let me out!” My fists pounded until they were raw. Nobody came.
The air was so hot and heavy that I started breaking out in rashes. My body itched and burned and I couldn’t stop scratching. Hours dragged by until my voice gave out, and I collapsed into the corner, shivering and gasping for air.
When the door finally creaked open, I thought I was saved. I pushed myself up against the wall, barely able to stand. Wilbert was standing there, the light behind him. For one heartbeat I thought maybe he would pull me out.
But his voice was colder than ice. “Hold her down.”
Two bodyguards rushed me before I even understood. They pinned my arms, and someone forced my jaw open. A bitter liquid flooded my throat, and I choked until I was coughing blood into my lap.
“What… what did you give me?” My voice broke as the burning spread through my chest.
Then it hit me. My skin flared in red blotches. My throat closed tight until every breath felt like knives cutting me. I knew this feeling. I was allergic with seafoods.
Wilbert’s voice cut through my panic. “You put peanuts in Nivianne’s food. She’s in the hospital now. I warned you not to touch her, but you never listen. So now you’ll understand what she went through.”
He just stood there watching me writhe on the floor, his eyes as cold as stone. Not a flicker of pity, not even anger. Just indifference.
“I didn’t…” I tried to speak, but the words broke apart as my body twisted in pain. Nobody cared. Nobody listened.
The last thing I saw was his face, calm and detached, as the darkness pulled me under.
***
“Anika? Wake up.”
His voice dragged me back from the dark. My eyelids felt like lead, but when I finally opened them, Wilbert was standing by my bed. He let out a heavy sigh when he saw me awake. His hand came down to brush the hair off my face, but I turned my head away without thinking. He froze and pulled back like I had burned him.
