The Delgado family's back garden.
The lily bed was right there, not far away.
Under the moonlight, the lilies were in full bloom, their white so sharp it stung.
I clenched my fists until my nails broke the skin of my palms.
Just wait. I will make every one of you pay in blood.
Cold wind knifed in through the basement vent.
My whole body shook, beyond my control.
Blood beaded on my cracked lips.
A soft click at the door.
Aunt Jocelyn crept in through the dark, a bowl of pork rib soup cradled in both hands. She dropped to her knees beside me, crying, and pressed the spoon to my lips.
"Miss, you've suffered so much. Drink a little hot soup. Warm yourself."
The warm liquid slid down my throat, barely pushing back the cold.
The bare bulb overhead blazed on.
Ruby stood at the top of the stairs in a red dress, smiling.
"Sister-in-law—how's the soup? Packed with nutrients, wouldn't you say?"
I shoved Jocelyn's arm away.
The porcelain bowl shattered at my feet.
Hot soup splashed across the tops of my feet, scalding the skin red.
I dropped to all fours and jammed my fingers down my throat, retching violently until nothing came up but bile and streaks of blood.
My stomach seized.
"You're insane! You're not even human!"
I snatched a jagged shard of porcelain off the ground and lunged up the stairs at Ruby.
I was going to kill her. I was going to rip this monster apart with my bare hands.
Cecil shot out of the shadows and drove his fist into the side of my face.
The impact hurled me backward into the metal cabinet behind me.
Agony ripped through my spine.
Ruby, still shaking, grabbed Cecil's sleeve and pointed at the porcelain shard on the ground.
"Cecil—she had a blade hidden on her! She tried to kill me! I'm barely out of the hospital!"
I spat out two broken teeth in a wash of blood and pointed at the soup stain on the floor, screaming.
"You're lying! That was never pork rib soup!"
Cecil ground his shoe into my cheek, twisting until the skin tore open in a raw, bloody smear.
"Still trying to talk your way out? I caught you red-handed—what could you possibly have to say?"
He pressed down harder with his foot. Something in my cheekbone creaked.
"Tie her up! Watch her around the clock!"
Two bodyguards rushed in and bound me with coarse hemp rope, arms wrenched behind my back.
The cord bit into my flesh so deep I nearly blacked out from the pain.