Chapter 4 Let You Get Enough Pleasure
Sophia stared at Joshua in disbelief. It took her a long moment to understand what he meant.
"What did you just say?"
A cruel smile crept across Joshua's lips. "Didn't you say you didn't want to lose your child? She's back inside you now. So, Sophia—how did your own son taste?"
"No!"
Sophia's stomach lurched. She stared at the empty bowl, and in that moment, her mind broke.
She lunged toward the bed and shoved her fingers down her throat.
My baby. My baby.
Joshua, you monster. That was your own flesh and blood. How could you do something so inhuman?
Acid and murky broth poured onto the floor, filling the air with a sickening, rancid smell.
She collapsed beside the mess, pushing her fingers deeper into her throat until she was bringing up bile.
The force tore her throat raw. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, stark against her deathly pale face.
"Come out... come out!"
She beat her fists against her stomach, raking her skin until it split and bled. She didn't seem to feel any of it.
Joshua stood over her, looking down with cold detachment. He nudged her with his foot. "What's with the act? When you were sleeping around with other men, did you ever stop to think about this bastard child?"
Sophia looked up at him, her face smeared with tears and blood. "Joshua, you're a monster! You deserve to rot in hell! Go to hell!"
She threw herself at him and sank her teeth into his calf.
Blood ran down his leg. Joshua didn't flinch. He kicked her away.
Sophia slammed into the wall. The impact knocked the breath out of her, and she crumpled to the floor.
"Hell?" Joshua straightened his tie and adjusted his cuffs. "Your parents are already in hell because of you. Since you love it so much, go see for yourself—see what they looked like when they died."
Two bodyguards walked in and hauled her up.
Sophia fought back, kicking and thrashing. "Let go of me! I'm not going! My parents aren't dead! They can't be dead!"
The bodyguards ignored her and dragged her out.
She was still bleeding. Her hospital gown was soaked through with blood, a horrifying sight. A long red smear trailed behind her down the hallway.
The car stopped in front of the funeral home.
White lilies covered the caskets in the center of the hall. Her parents' portraits stood among the flowers, candles burning on either side.
Sophia was dropped onto the cold concrete floor in the middle of the mortuary chapel.
She knelt there and stared blankly at her parents' kind, gentle faces in the photographs.
Mom... Dad... you...
Sophia's tears fell without stopping.
Her uncle, Aubrey Hernandez, rushed over and slapped her hard across the face. The sharp crack echoed through the chapel.
"You shameless whore! You've dragged the Hernandez name through the mud! You drove your own parents to their graves, and you still have the nerve to show your face here! I'll beat you to death!"
Her aunt jabbed a finger in her face and screamed, "We all saw the videos online. Your parents spent their whole lives building a good name, and this is what they raised—something this disgusting. Why don't you just die?" She spat directly in Sophia's face.
Sophia didn't move. She didn't defend herself. She knelt perfectly still, trying to burn her parents' faces into her memory.
Rainey walked over in a black dress, her eyes red and swollen, and stepped in front of Aubrey.
"Uncle, please stop. I'm sure Sophia just wasn't thinking—"
"Rainey, don't you dare defend her! The Hernandez family wants nothing to do with trash like her!" Aubrey shook with rage, pointing straight at Sophia. "Piss off! You're shitting all over your parents' memory!"
Rainey turned and crouched in front of Sophia, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from her face. She dropped her voice to just above a whisper, low enough that only the two of them could hear.
"See, Sophia? Everyone wants you dead. When your parents jumped, they hit the ground so hard their skulls cracked open. Blood everywhere. It was a real mess."
Sophia's whole body began to shake. She raised her head and locked eyes with Rainey, whose smile was two-faced.
Hatred surged up from somewhere deep inside her, turning her eyes red.
The mortuary chapel was on the third floor. The floor-to-ceiling window was open, and wind drifted in from outside.
Sophia snapped.
She didn't know where the strength came from. She launched herself at Rainey and wrapped both hands around her throat.
"You did this. This is all because of you. Die. Just die!"
Rainey was caught off guard and went down hard, struggling frantically. "Help—Joshua, help me—"
Sophia's eyes were bloodshot. She dug her nails into Rainey's throat and dragged her toward the open window. "If I don't get to live, neither do you. We're going to hell together."
She was already halfway out the window, one hand locked in Rainey's hair, pulling her over the edge.
Rainey screamed in terror, clawing at the window frame with both hands and feet, scratching white lines into the wall.
Just as Sophia was about to drag her over, something slammed into her back.
Joshua came charging across the room and drove his foot into her spine. Full force.
The impact sent Sophia flying. She crashed into the altar and went down hard.
Joshua grabbed Rainey and pulled her behind him. Rainey trembled in his arms, sobbing against his chest. "Joshua, I was so scared..."
Sophia lay on the floor and looked up at the two of them holding each other. Then she started laughing. She laughed until it sounded like something tearing apart inside her.
"Joshua... you're a blind fool. You believe that bitch Rainey—you're going to regret it. You will."
A mouthful of blood spilled from her lips and spread across the floor.
Then her vision went dark, and she collapsed. Still. Silent.
The air around her was cold. It smelled of damp earth and something rotting underneath.
Sophia drifted back to consciousness.
There was no light. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face.
She tried to move her arms and found them chained to the wall. Her ankles were locked down too.
Something was moving along her calves. Smooth. Cold.
Hssss...
The sound crawled across her skin in the dark.
Sophia's whole body went rigid. She yanked her feet back.
All around her—the soft scraping of scales against concrete. From the corners. From above. From right beside her feet. Everywhere.
Then the lights came on.
The white glare made her squeeze her eyes shut.
When she finally adjusted and looked around, her blood ran cold.
She was in a sealed underground room.
Snakes covered every surface—the floor, the walls—a writhing mass of color and scale. Some coiled in the corners, tongues flickering. Others were already climbing the chains toward her.
A solid black cobra was coiled on her shoulder, its cold scales pressed against her neck.
Footsteps outside the iron door.
Joshua stood on the other side of a glass wall, one hand in his pocket, watching her with empty eyes.
Rainey leaned against him, holding a remote control.
"Sophia, Joshua told me you like a little excitement. Let me help you with that."
She pressed the button.
The ventilation shafts opened. A sharp chemical smell flooded in.
The snakes, still a moment before, went wild.
They twisted and writhed, mouths open, fangs bared, surging toward Sophia—
