Chapter 3

Lucy stepped on my thigh and ground her heel in.

I cried out in pain.

"You little witch, always playing the victim! I barely touched you, and you're screaming like that!"

I glared at her coldly. "Lucy Patworth, you'll regret everything you're doing today."

"Still defiant? I'll teach you how to be a proper daughter-in-law!"

From the day I married Troy, Lucy had been desperate to "teach me my place." She'd even prepared a list of duties, including washing her feet and underwear daily.

Apparently, Troy's grandmother had treated her the same way, so she was eager to continue the tradition with me.

Women have always been cruel to other women.

But she forgot that my husband had violence tendencies, and I hadn't married him by choice.

Before that list even reached my hands, Troy had torn it to shreds and berated her.

She never dared confront her son directly, so she'd been waiting to take her anger out on me.

Today, she finally got her chance.

Lucy had one of her friends fetch a basin of water from the bathroom. Grabbing my hair, she hissed, "In the old days, they used to drown adulterous women. Let's give you a taste of that."

With that, she forced my head into the basin.

The cold water covered my nose and mouth. The suffocation was immediate and terrifying.

I struggled violently but couldn't break free from her grip.

Just when I thought I was about to die, she yanked my head back up by my hair.

I gasped desperately for air, water dripping down my face and clothes, completely disheveled.

"Not so proud now, are you? You think you can order around my son - the one I raised with my own blood and sweat? Who do you think you are?"

After catching my breath, I shot her a sideways glance, hatred burning inside me. "If you've got the guts, kill me right now. Otherwise, you'll pay for this!"

In that moment, I hated Troy with every fiber of my being. If he hadn't forced me to marry him, none of this would be happening.

Lucy slapped me again, drawing blood from my lip.

"Still talking back! I won't rest until I put you in your place!"

She plunged my head back into the water.

This time she held me under even longer. She repeated this over and over until I was completely drained of strength.

Finally, someone spoke up, noticing my pale face. "Lucy, she's learned her lesson. Don't kill her."

"Times have changed - you'll go to prison for killing your daughter-in-law, and we'll all be accomplices!"

At the mention of prison, more women started urging Lucy to stop.

She yanked my hair one last time and threw me to the ground, my clothes soaked.

She sneered, "I'll let you off for now, you drowned rat. Just wait until my son deals with your adultery!"

Exhausted, I thought to myself: when Troy comes after you, I won't say a word to help you this time.

Just then, another woman came from the bathroom holding my pregnancy test and handed it to Lucy.

Lucy's eyes widened in rage as she kicked me hard.

"You shamless! You're even carrying someone else's child!"

I instinctively curled up, protecting my stomach with my hands.

As Lucy drew back for another kick, I quickly said, "It's not other man's child - it's Troy's baby!"

Lucy roared, "Don't lie to me! I know you never wanted his children. You even made him get a vasectomy!"

She pointed at me furiously. "You're trying to end the Walker family line!"

When I first married Troy, he never used protection, saying he wanted us to be completely one.

I threw dozens of boxes of birth control pills in front of him, telling him I'd take one every time he touched me - I refused to have a child with his genetic condition.

Worried about the drugs harming my health, he got a vasectomy instead.

The elderly women were outraged - to them, nothing was more important than family legacy.

"She's pure evil - making her husband sterile and now trying to pass off another man's child as his!"

"These young women today! My last daughter-in-law also cheated and had another man's baby. I took care of that child for three years before I found out!"

"If I'd known sooner, I would've made sure that evil kid was never born."

Spurred on by their words, Lucy looked at me with venomous eyes.

"They're right! I'll get rid of that baby in your belly before it can harm our family!"

For the first time, real panic gripped me. I tried explaining to Lucy: "It really is Troy's baby! His company developed new genetic screening technology that let me have a healthy baby."

"If you don't believe me, call Troy and ask him!"

"You scheming witch! I know exactly what you're up to. Troy is so bewitched by you, he'd forgive you even if he knew about your affair."

"But as his mother, I won't let him bear this shame!"

With that, she kicked me hard in the stomach. Excruciating pain radiated from deep within.