After Hearing the Snakes Talk, I Gave My Husband's Cursed Necklace to a Pig

He stopped trying.

That evening, Clement didn't bother warming my milk. He just stood there, irritation written across his face.

"I've been working all day. You can't heat it yourself?"

Before I could say a word, he disappeared into the basement. Seconds later, that familiar sweet, coppery smell drifted up through the floorboards.

I didn't lose my temper. I stuck to the plan and kept acting.

By the next morning, I was too weak to get out of bed.

That afternoon, Clement didn't even come into the bedroom. I could hear him pacing the hallway, making call after call, his voice bright with barely contained excitement as he schemed.

I didn't ask a single question. I just watched the gleam of his new watch catch the light and let myself smile.

That night, Clement's mother, Lauren Lawrence, descended on my home with over a dozen relatives in tow, barging through the front door like a conquering army.

Lauren's voice carried through the entire house, loud and shrill, as if she already owned the place. "Years I've spent smiling at that woman's face. Years. Well, the suffering's finally over."

The crowd fawned and congratulated one another for a while before Lauren's voice cut through again. "Come on. Let's go upstairs and get one last look at the little tramp!"

They surged up the staircase and crammed into my bedroom.

I sat propped against the headboard, expression blank, watching them gawk at me like visitors at a zoo, amusement and contempt plastered across every face.

Among them were people I had helped. One had been wrongfully fired, and I was the one who found them a new job. Another's child couldn't get into school, and I was the one who secured the enrollment spot. Yet another had lost over a million dollars in a failed business, and it was my emergency fund that pulled them out of the hole.

Clement had no conscience. Fine. But neither did a single one of them.

I spoke, my voice flat and cold. "Mom. Auntie. Uncle. What exactly is this about?"

They exchanged glances, then sneered in unison. "It means we've been putting up with you long enough, and today we're finally getting it off our chests!"

"Every time we had to look at you sitting up there on your throne, it made us sick!"

"We just didn't have the resources. If we'd been born rich like you, we'd be running the world by now! Who do you think you are?"

I held my temper. I watched Clement walk up to me, grip my chin so hard the bones ached, and tilt my face toward his. "Carla. I never loved you. Not once. Every time I lowered myself for you was the most humiliating moment of my life. But soon enough, you'll know exactly how that feels."

He released my chin, turned on his heel, and gave the order. "Bring Dawn and Tilly in. Once Dawn takes over Carla's body, bring Virginia back to serve as Tilly's vessel."

Moments later, two snakes were carried in, tongues flicking with excitement.

"Dawn, are you ready?"

The red-scaled snake lifted its head. Darling, I've waited so long for this day!

The black-scaled snake writhed with impatience. Daddy, hurry up and bring Mommy back! She shouldn't have to suffer anymore!

Clement stared at the jade pendant around my neck, his gaze locked on it as the stone deepened toward crimson. In the final minute before it turned completely red, his expression was pure, unhinged mania.

"Starting today, the lady of this house is Dawn Henson. The master is me, Clement Sanchez. Everything the Fox family owns belongs to me. My mother will never have to bow and scrape again. She'll live like the rich woman she deserves to be."

"As for Carla and that little brat of hers..."

"They'll vanish from this world completely. As if they never existed at all."

Lauren Lawrence started clapping first.

A dozen voices erupted in cheers around the room.

"Son, you're brilliant!"

"Clement really pulled it off!"

"We're going to be rich!"

Clement soaked it all in, laughing with wild, reckless triumph.

He walked back to me, and his final words dripped with the condescension of a man tossing a coin to a beggar. "Carla. Any last words?"

I lifted my head and smiled. Cold as a blade.

"Of course I do. But these aren't last words."

"First: that watch on your wrist? Tilly's cursed jade pendant is hidden inside it. The stone should be completely red by now."

Clement froze. His gaze dropped to his wrist.

"Second..."

I pulled my phone from under the pillow. On the screen, a 911 call was still connected.

"You brought people to break into my home, threatened my safety, and tried to seize my property. The police heard every word."

The cheering died like a switch had been flipped.

Clement's face changed. He lunged for the phone, but his hand locked mid-air.

"What's happening... my body..."

Every eye in the room turned to him.

Every face twisted with raw terror.