Reborn to Ruin the Scumbag Who Made Me His Second Wife

Six:

I wanted to fight back.

But a woman is no match for a man's strength, let alone one woman against a whole room of them.

So even though I struggled with everything I had, all it got me was a beating, and then Henry and a few other men tied me up.

I looked at the red cord, already prepared and waiting.

And it finally hit me.

This wedding had never been what I thought it was. Henry hadn't announced the dual-household scheme because he understood me. He'd done it because they'd already worked out exactly how to break me.

Mavis had wiped her tears away and settled back into the seat of honor.

A freshly brewed cup of tea was shoved back into my hands.

I wanted to throw it, but hands clamped down on me from all sides, forcing me to my knees, forcing me to serve Mavis her tea, forcing me to call her "big sister."

I refused to say a word. Mavis didn't get angry. She only smiled.

"It's fine. Whether you call me big sister or not, I won't hold it against you. I'll have plenty of chances to hear it later."

Then she made a little clicking sound with her tongue and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Beth, wouldn't it have been easier to do this from the start?"

"Why put on this whole show and get yourself beaten for nothing?"

I spat, and blood came out with it.

"Even if I serve the tea, I'll never accept this marriage."

"I'll keep making a scene. Right to the end."

Stella smiled.

"A scene?"

"You really think serving tea is the last step?"

"You're this unwilling. Did you think we wouldn't have other ways to make you behave?"

"Let me be honest with you. The tea is just to humiliate you. The thing that actually ties you down comes after."

I froze.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Henry stepped in front of me.

"You're making a scene, refusing to accept the marriage, because deep down you still think you have a way out."

"So I'm moving up the wedding night. Once you're really my wife, there's no way out left."

Seven:

The disgust turned my stomach.

Henry and I had been husband and wife in my past life, but the thought of a wedding night with him now, under these circumstances, made me want to be sick.

It was only after they all hauled me up together and threw me onto the bed that I understood this was no joke.

"Henry, you went to school, you're educated. Have you lost your mind? This is against the law!"

"You want to be with Mavis, so why drag me into it? Fine, I'll give you the money. All of it. I don't want any of it. Isn't that enough?"

"You two can fly off together, so what use is a stranger like me in your house?"

My voice shook a little.

Mavis, for her part, was "kind" enough to explain it to me.

"You're right, we're after your money. But we're after you, too."

"Henry and I have it all planned out. He's going to start studying, and once he gets into college he'll take me away from here. But we need someone to look after his mother, and you're the perfect fit."

"After the wedding night, you'll belong to Henry. And I'll have him break your legs and ruin your face, so you'll never get the chance to run for the rest of your life."

Henry acted like he hadn't heard a word of it. He didn't bother hiding his own calculations.

"Beth, you brought this on yourself."

"If you'd just behaved, I wouldn't be treating you like this. I could have kept playing the part, kept it up right until I got into college."

"As for it being against the law."

"It's only against the law if someone calls the police. You think we'd ever let you get to a phone?"

Mavis nodded.

Then her hands reached out to help Henry with the belt I'd knotted tight at my waist.

I screamed for help, but the wedding guests were long gone, and even if they'd stayed, none of them would have helped me.

Henry even mimicked me, shouting back.

"You've got no family, no one, nothing to lean on. You deserve to be pushed around. No one's going to stand up for you. No one's going to call the police for you."

The words had barely left his mouth.

The door was kicked to pieces.

Someone rushed in.

"She's got no family, but every one of us has her back!"