She turned to Bernard, her voice soft and gentle.
"Bernard, I know how much you suffered back then. Please don't be upset. I'll always be on your side. As for your wife, you should probably let her out. She's saying whatever comes to mind, even threatening to kill us. If this goes on, who knows what she might do. She could turn out just like that brother of hers..."
Ivy's words dragged up every bitter, suffocating memory Bernard had buried, and his fury erupted in an instant. He slammed his fist into the iron wall.
"Raise the temperature another nine degrees. Let's see how long she keeps running her mouth."
The men behind him saw his rage and didn't dare push back. They went and raised the temperature nine degrees without a word.
The heat hit all at once, boring through my body from below. I felt like a slab of meat pressed flat against a griddle.
My organs were cooking. Every inch of me was being boiled alive from the inside out.
I couldn't hold on. I collapsed sideways.
The instant my belly touched the iron plate, blood surged from my lower abdomen.
It ran along the metal and seeped out through the gap beneath the door. Even outside, it was still steaming.
When I understood that my child was gone, truly gone, the sound that tore out of me was barely human.
People outside cried out. "Someone's going to die in there!"
Bernard had still been seething, but the shout made him turn. The blood pooling under the door drained the color from his face.
He grabbed the nearest person, shaking them. "The key! Go get the key, NOW!"
Ivy rushed forward. "Bernard, I know where it is. I'll get it!"
Before she left, she paused at the small window and looked in at me.
The look on her face was pure, undisguised triumph. A grin so vicious it twisted her features.
After she left, Bernard stood rigid, brow knotted, glancing again and again through the window at me. I was barely breathing.
Minutes passed. When Ivy still hadn't returned, he erupted. "Where is she?! Someone go find out why that key isn't here yet!"
"And the rest of you, cut the power! Get an ambulance here NOW!"
He watched them scatter in every direction. Something flickered behind his eyes. Pain, maybe.
The power had barely been off a minute when Ivy came running back, tears streaming down her face. "Bernard, the key... the key is gone..."
The blood left his face entirely.
He staggered toward her, his voice threaded with ice. "How is the key gone. You'd better not be lying to me."
Ivy dropped to her knees with a thud. "This oven was custom-made. It only came with one key. When the maids were cleaning up, they must have thought it was junk and... thrown it away..."
I watched Bernard through half-closed eyes. The pathetic part was that he believed her. An excuse that flimsy, and he swallowed it whole.
He sent someone to get a replacement key made, then pressed his face close to the window. "Sharon, just hold on a little longer. I'm getting you out. Stay with me."
Watching the concern crease his brow, Ivy spoke up again. "Bernard, you brought all my relatives here today. You told them they'd witness your wife apologizing to me. They're all still waiting..."
"The power's off now anyway. Just think of it as giving everyone closure. All she has to do is say she's sorry. It doesn't even have to be sincere..."
Bernard looked at me. Then at Ivy, small and wronged and obedient. He rapped his knuckles against the little window.
"Sharon, no matter how you look at it, today was your fault. Just apologize. Keep it simple. Then I'll drop the whole thing. Alright?"
When I said nothing, his tone softened. "Be good. Everyone's waiting for you to say sorry. Once you do, I'll let you out. Ivy will take good care of you from now on. And I'll love you properly. I promise."
