4: 4
Gretchen threw herself at me to pull me free, and one of the men kicked her flat to the floor.
My eyes went red in an instant.
I lurched toward her, my body pitching forward without my say-so.
Milton clamped my chin, gripping with everything he had.
"Your family deliberately used money to humiliate me. Now it's your turn to find out what it feels like to be ground under someone's heel."
My family knew he didn't have much. My father paid for the wedding motorcade and the hotel.
He had no ability of his own, so he laid that debt at my feet.
I sucked in a breath and clenched my teeth.
"Milton, you bastard! I will never let you get away with this!"
Aunt Penelope rolled her eyes and slapped my face with the flat of her hand.
"Still won't back down?"
She shot Joy a look.
"Teach her a lesson. Being a daughter-in-law of the Vances isn't the easy ride she thinks it is!"
Something cold touched my skin and my body jerked before I could stop it.
The thing coiled around my arm, twice.
"Frieda! No!"
Gretchen screamed until her voice tore, clawing at the floor to get up and help me.
The man just pinned the back of her hand under his boot.
The pain was so bad she couldn't even cry out.
I could feel the slick weight of it working its way into the skirt of my wedding dress.
"You'll regret this."
I lifted my eyes and burned their faces into my memory, my voice cold enough to sting.
"Everything I'm taking tonight, I'll pay back tenfold!"
"Hmph. You?"
Aunt Penelope folded her arms, looking down at me with contempt.
"You belong to my family now. The house and the car are ours. However great your so-called ability is, you'll never crawl out of the Vances' grip!"
Milton got even bolder, pulling out his phone and shoving the camera right up to my face.
"Say it to the camera. Say, I was wrong, I shouldn't have stepped on Joy's snake, I got what I deserved."
"Say it and I'll let you go."
I bit down on my lip until blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.
Then I snapped upright and slammed my head into the phone, knocking it from his hand.
Milton's eyes went red at once. He seized my collar in both fists and moved to smash my head against the wall.
Then, out of nowhere, a chaos of footsteps came from outside.
The door crashed to the floor.
My father stood in the doorway, a six-foot king python still writhing in his left hand, an open iron cage in his right.
The snake flicked its tongue, hissing.
