"Willow switches drive out evil spirits. We're just helping you get cleansed."
The switches had been soaked in salt water. The first lash sent brine searing straight into my wounds.
I screamed. Donald started toward the room, but someone pulled him back.
"Donald, the ladies know what they're doing. They won't really hurt her."
"If you go in there, she'll know she can use your worry to manipulate you."
Donald's expression shifted, darkened, shifted again. In the end, he didn't come in.
Sixty-six lashes.
The twin agony of my heart condition and the shredded flesh stole even my ability to scream. By the end, I couldn't make a sound.
Something warm was trickling down between my legs.
The women in the room saw the blood and panicked instantly.
"She... she's not pregnant, is she?"
Donald heard the commotion and walked in.
When he saw the blood pooling between my legs, real alarm flashed across his face.
"It was supposed to be a simple lesson. Why is she bleeding?"
The women couldn't get a single word out. One by one, their eyes turned to Cecily.
Cecily was rattled too, but she recovered fast. She grabbed Donald's arm and lowered her voice.
"It's obviously just her period."
"You know Sheila's cycle better than anyone. Isn't it right around now?"
Half the worry drained from Donald's face.
"That's probably it."
Cecily smiled. When her gaze slid to me, a flicker of contempt settled behind her eyes.
"Sheila's trying to fake a miscarriage so you'll feel sorry for her and take her home."
"You've told me yourself, Donald. Sheila is clever."
"She knows she's not getting out of here anytime soon, so she's using her own body to guilt-trip you."
I felt the life inside me fading, slipping away degree by degree. A bitter, hollow laugh escaped my throat.
In my last life, I hadn't been able to keep this baby either. Only it hadn't ended like this. Back then, they'd forced me into the fields to do manual labor until my body gave out and the child was gone.
This time, it was beaten out of me.
Donald had already swallowed every word Cecily fed him. He turned on me, lip curling. "Sheila Simmons, you really don't know when to quit, do you?"
"Even now, you're scheming to make me take you away."
"Watching me worry. Is that fun for you?"
Cecily put on her best sympathetic expression, shaking her head at me with practiced disapproval.
"Sheila, using Donald's concern like that is really too much."
"You should apologize to him."
I placed my hand gently over my lower belly. The warmth beneath my palm was fading.
I bit through my lip. Tasted iron and salt. Then I lunged, driving my head straight into Cecily's stomach.
She went sprawling, arms and legs flailing, clutching her abdomen and wailing.
"My stomach! My stomach hurts so bad!"
"Donald, I'm not going to lose the ability to be a mother, am I?"
Donald backhanded me across the face.
"You'd better pray nothing happens to Cecily."
He turned to Leopold and Beverly Harris, who were hovering in the doorway, and raised his voice.
"I'm taking Cecily to the hospital to get checked out. She stays with you."
"Just handle things the way Cecily told you."
He scooped Cecily into his arms and left.
The engine roared to life outside. Once the car pulled away, Leopold and Beverly Harris ushered the other women out of the room.
Beverly Harris stepped forward and slapped me twice across the face.
"So what if you're that CEO's wife? He wants my daughter now."
"Once you're dead, my girl becomes the new Mrs. Henson."
"Of course, we won't make it look too obvious. Imagine the story: a spoiled little rich wife threw a tantrum, stumbled into the pig pen, and got torn apart by the hogs."
Leopold grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me toward the door.
My legs scraped across the gravel. Stones sliced skin. Blood trailed behind me the entire way.
Leopold looked at the red smear on the ground and grinned.
"Once I starve those animals for a few days, they'll smell the blood on you. And then, sweetheart, you'll be their next meal."
I'd been thrown into the pig pen.
The stench hit me like a wall. The animals snorted, noses twitching, and lumbered toward me. I shoved at them, but their hooves caught me several times. The two of them stood there, watching my misery with satisfaction, before finally walking away.
Only after I was absolutely certain they were gone did I force myself to stay conscious and pull out my phone.
I called my parents.
"Mom, Dad. Save me."
