I seized her wrist right back, my voice cold, without a trace of warmth.
"Meg Lambert, up till now I've respected you as an elder."
"But that doesn't mean you get to keep pushing your luck."
Meg's face twisted with pain as she thrashed to get free.
"You little slut! Let go of me!"
Antony saw it and rushed over at once, wrenching my hand off her by force.
Meg staggered back a couple of steps and jabbed a finger at me, vicious.
"Oh, so now you'll raise a hand to your elders!"
"Let me tell you something. The Swanson door isn't one you walk through and walk out of whenever you please!"
"The wedding's done. Alive, you belong to the Swansons. Dead, you're a Swanson ghost!"
She threw out her arm.
"Somebody, hold her down for me!"
Two guards charged in immediately, clamping down on my arms, one on each side.
I fought hard, but they pinned me in place.
Only then did Meg smile, satisfied. "That's more like it."
She walked up to me and looked down at me from above.
"Starting today, you're up at four every morning to cook."
"Antony, me, your father-in-law, and these three women. You wait on every one of us."
"Until we've picked up our forks, you don't come to the table."
"Until we've gone to sleep, you don't rest."
"From now on, whatever we tell you to do, you do it."
Just then the sworn sister suddenly covered her mouth, bent over, and gave a dry heave. Her face flushed a bashful pink.
"Big brother just kissed me. Do you think I'm pregnant?"
Meg wore the look of someone who understood everything, and broke into a grin that wouldn't quit.
"Good! Good!"
She turned her head toward me.
"This child is going to be the eldest grandchild of the Swanson family. You will wait on him as if he were your own!"
I said coldly, "Dream on."
Meg's face went dark in an instant. "Still talking back?"
She let out a cold snort and dragged an iron chain out from under a chair.
"A daughter-in-law who won't obey."
"Chain her up, keep her a few days, and she'll fall in line."
She came at me, step by step.
At the very moment the chain was about to loop around my neck, dozens of black-suited bodyguards strode into the banquet hall.
The one at the front lunged forward and kicked Meg in the back of the knee.
Caught off guard, she went down hard, crashing to the floor.
The rest moved in fast, ringing Antony and the others in on every side.
The lead bodyguard turned and came to stand before me, bowing his head respectfully.
"Ms. Fox, the wedding gifts you ordered have all been delivered."
"How would you like us to handle them now?"
I gave Antony and the rest a light glance.
"Untouched."
"Send every last one of them back."
