Eight Months Pregnant, My Husband Fed Me to Tibetan Mastiffs

After my baby bump started showing, Maxwell Farley's secretary put me on a weight-loss program.

It required me to run sixty miles a day while a pack of Tibetan Mastiffs chased and snapped at my heels.

I ran until I nearly lost the baby's heartbeat, then begged her to call the dogs off.

She just reclined in her rocking chair, smiling sweetly. “Mrs. Farley, you've gotten fat as a pig since the pregnancy. It's honestly an eyesore. I'm doing this for your own good.”

Out of options, I grabbed a flowerpot and smashed it over the lunging dog's head just to stay alive.

Afterward, I demanded that Maxwell give me an explanation.

Instead, I got an interrogation.

“Doris Mason, how can you be so vicious? Do you have any idea Joy Winfield faints at the sight of blood? Because of your little stunt killing that dog, she nearly ended up in the ICU!”

I was so furious I laughed. “She got what she deserved. Too bad the ICU didn't keep her.”

Maxwell stared at me, gave an unreadable smile, and said nothing more.

But that night, I was yanked out of bed and thrown into a pitch-black room.

The snarling of Tibetan Mastiffs and the clank of iron chains filled my ears.

Maxwell's lazy voice drifted in from outside. “Joy isn't someone you get to bully. She has people backing her. Understand?”

I tried to recall every kind thing he'd ever done for me, but the cold still crept through my chest.

After a long silence, I spoke. “Maxwell, I have people backing me too.”

And if I called on them, by tomorrow he and Joy would learn what it meant to wish they were dead.

——

“Feeling wronged, Mrs. Farley?”

His voice was still careless. He assumed the person I meant to rely on was him.

I said nothing. I took out my phone and finally dialed a number I hadn't called in a very long time.

“……Hey. I'm being hurt.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I heard a scoff from outside the room.

“Since when do you have a brother? First I'm hearing of it.”

I didn't answer. Over the snarling and the chains, I gave the address. “Serene Gardens.”

“Nice act.” Maxwell's tone was amused. “I'm shaking, Mrs. Farley.”

While he was still mocking me, a coy voice floated closer from down the hall.

“Maxwell.”

“You have three seconds.”

“If you don't punish her right now.”

“We're done.”

“You really think I came here to listen to you two flirt.”

Maxwell wrapped his arm around Joy's slender waist and strolled to the small window. He gestured casually at the Mastiffs chained around the dark room.

“My girl's upset.”

“She's hard to calm down, so you'll just have to suffer, Mrs. Farley.”

He raised a hand. The dog handler walked into the room and removed the muzzles from every Mastiff.

The window slammed shut. The room plunged into total darkness.

The Mastiffs roared from every direction, chains scraping across the floor in a shrill metallic shriek.

No matter how hard I tried to stay calm, every hair on my body stood on end and each breath came harder than the last.

I couldn't stop shaking. My voice came out raw. “Maxwell, do you have any idea what sixty miles means for a pregnant woman? Those are Tibetan Mastiffs! If I hadn't fought back, your child would already be dead inside me!”

The sound of my voice only excited the dogs more. They lunged and snarled louder.

In the grip of that terror, a violent cramp tore through my lower abdomen.

The baby kicked frantically. I pressed both hands over my stomach and had no choice but to call out for help.

“Maxwell, let me out! The baby's going to get hurt! We waited five years for this child. You wanted him more than anything!”

Silence outside. A few seconds passed.

Then I heard him say, “When she calms down.”

Those three words cut into me like a blade. I felt the blood come.

Years ago, when I was helping Maxwell build his business, the lack of rest cost me a pregnancy. After that, I couldn't conceive again for a long time.