4: 4
The canes came down again, harder than before, and I bit back a moan of pain.
I tried to get up, but I couldn't. All I could do was lie there and take it.
Both hands pressed to my belly, I stared straight at Matthew. "Make them stop. You'll regret it if you don't."
Zara sneered. "Still threatening my son after all this? Sounds like you haven't learned to bow yet. Keep hitting her."
Matthew looked down at me, just as cold. "Rebecca, stop threatening me. I'm not falling for it. Mom's right. You have to be broken once and for all."
"You want fewer strokes, then apologize to my mom right now. Get her to go easier on you. Otherwise it's still you who gets hurt."
Inside, I laughed bitterly at myself. I should have listened to my mother.
She'd met Matthew back then and hadn't thought much of him. "One look at this man and you can tell he has no backbone, nothing to stand on. He's not someone you can lean on. I won't agree to you marrying him."
But at the time all I wanted was to marry him. "He's not spineless, he just has a gentle temper. I like that he gives in to me on everything. Dad was the one who was so headstrong he ended up with a mistress and threw us away."
My mother's face went cold. "You'll regret this someday."
Back then I swore up and down that I never would. Now I truly did.
Cramp after cramp tore through my belly, and my whole body felt like it was being ripped apart. I couldn't stop myself from going pale. "Matthew, my stomach hurts so much. Make them stop. I'm pregnant."
Matthew froze all over, and Zara and the others stopped their canes in an instant.
"Becca, you're really carrying?"
Matthew rushed over, shaken, and reached to help me up. By now the pain had me seeing stars, my hands clamped tight over my belly. "My stomach hurts so badly. Take me to the hospital, quick."
"Okay. I'll take you to the hospital right now."
But Zara threw out her arm to stop him. "Matthew, don't let her fool you. If she's pregnant, why didn't she tell you sooner? I think she just doesn't want to be beaten, so she's lying on purpose."
"You're too soft, that's why she can lead you around by the nose."
Matthew's face went cold at once. "Rebecca, you're lying to me."
I shook my head. "I'm not. I really am carrying a child."
He gave a cold snort. "Something this important, and you never told me ahead of time? You're lying on purpose so you can run. I'm not falling for your tricks again."
I'd only wanted to surprise him. I'd meant to tell him on our wedding night.
The cane cracked down on me again, hard. "How dare you lie to my son. Today I'm breaking you no matter what."
Someone beside her tried to talk her down. "What if it's true? What if you damage the baby?"
Zara snorted coldly. "So what? She has to be broken today, or how will my son ever hold his head up again?"
"She can have more anyway. If this one drops, she just gets pregnant again. Isn't that right, son?"
Matthew's eyes were ice. "Do what Mom says."
Then more than a dozen canes came down on me again, hard.
I felt something warm run out from under me.
"Stop! Let go of my daughter!"
"Oh God, look, there's blood all under her!"
