To get under my skin, my boyfriend's childhood sweetheart cut my swimsuit to shreds.
I grabbed a pair of scissors and turned what was left into a bikini. The curves it showed off drew envious stares from everyone around.
She was so furious she could barely see straight, and she started hunting for a second chance to humiliate me.
That chance came on the night of the wedding. I was soaking in the bathtub when she released a swarm of filthy cockroaches that came pouring over the rim.
The color drained from my face. I tried to stand, tried to reach my bathrobe, but Lucinda burst through the door with a crowd of people behind her.
“Ha! Marcella Delgado, you've finally got nowhere to run!”
“Pay up, boys. The cockroaches got to her.”
They transferred money on their phones without looking away, their eyes crawling over my body with the kind of sleazy, repulsive hunger that made my stomach turn.
“Ooh, I think I can see a little something.”
“Damn! Get those roaches in the tub already so she has to stand up. I wanna see the whole show.”
My chest heaved with rage.
“Stuart! Where are you? Get in here and throw them out!”
“I'm terrified of cockroaches!!”
He was standing right outside the door. He didn't care.
“What are you screaming about? You love showing off your body in front of everyone, don't you? So go ahead. Show them.”
“They're just cockroaches. You grew up dirt poor. What's there to be squeamish about?”
He was right. They were just cockroaches.
So I picked up my phone：“Round up every cockroach in the city. Send a truckload to me. I'm going to make that cheating pair swallow every last one.”
——
“Ha Haha! What did she just say?”
“Cheating pair? Make us eat cockroaches? Is she talking about me and Stuart?”
Lucinda Harding turned to Stuart with a look of wide-eyed innocence, and his face darkened instantly.
“Marcella Delgado, what makes you think you can force us to eat cockroaches?”
“Citywide search, she says. Like she thinks she's some kind of queen.”
“Right?”
Someone chimed in, but those disgusting eyes never left my chest.
I pressed my arms tighter against myself, sinking as low into the foam as I could.
But the foam wouldn't last. It was already thinning, dissolving at the edges.
And the moment it was gone, the cockroaches would crawl up and into the tub.
The men crowded just outside the bathroom, all of them waiting to watch me break.
I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms, my whole body trembling as I stared at Stuart Gilbert.
Every tremor shook loose a little more of the foam clinging to my skin.
I didn't dare move again after that, but the tears came anyway.
Lucinda walked over to Stuart's side and draped her hand across his shoulder.
“Stuart, you're not allowed to rescue her. Promise me.”
“I've got a ten-million-dollar bet going with Feng.”
“I bet you love me the most, and you won't lift a finger for Marcella for at least half an hour.”
“He bet against me. He thinks you'll crack and save her in the end.”
The moment she finished, Lucinda grabbed Stuart's hand and pouted up at him, clinging, cooing.
I still held on to one last shred of hope. I thought he would refuse her. I thought this second, monstrous demand would be too much even for him.
Instead, he raised his hand and flicked the tip of Lucinda's nose without a moment's hesitation.
“You. You've been this much trouble since we were kids. Keep it up and nobody's going to marry you.”
“So that's a yes!”
“Yay, Stuart! I knew you loved me the most. Feng, pay up.”
The men erupted.
“Pay her! If Feng doesn't, I'll cover it myself.”
“Damn, Stuart treats Lucinda way better than his own girl. I need to stick closer to Lucinda from now on.”
Lucinda lifted her chin, triumph and contempt radiating from every pore as she looked down at me.
I stared at Stuart in disbelief. He was smoothing a strand of loose hair behind Lucinda's ear.
