She buried her face in his chest, her voice weak and pitiful. “Don’t be angry at her, Wilbert. I know she hates me, but I don’t blame her. She just… she just hate me to death. Maybe I really need to leave.”
“No, you're not leaving, Nivianne.” He stopped her. “Anika! Apologize, now.”
“Wilbert, I'm telling you the tru—”
“Enough, Anika!” He scooped her up in his arms and barked at me, “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”
Then he turned to the butler. “Lock her in the basement. She’s not allowed out until I say so.”
My legs went weak. The basement. That damp, stinking place where he kept those snakes for Nivianne. I stumbled back, shaking my head. “No… please, not there. Don’t do this to me.”
I tried to fight as they dragged me, but my strength was nothing. The door slammed shut behind me, and the darkness pressed down heavy on my chest.
The silence was broken only by the soft, terrible hissing. My skin crawled, and something brushed over my ankle. I jumped and screamed, slapping at the floor, but there was nothing I could do.
“Open the door! Please let me out!” My fists pounded until they were raw. Nobody came.
The air was so hot and heavy that I started breaking out in rashes. My body itched and burned and I couldn’t stop scratching. Hours dragged by until my voice gave out, and I collapsed into the corner, shivering and gasping for air.
When the door finally creaked open, I thought I was saved. I pushed myself up against the wall, barely able to stand. Wilbert was standing there, the light behind him. For one heartbeat I thought maybe he would pull me out.
But his voice was colder than ice. “Hold her down.”
Two bodyguards rushed me before I even understood. They pinned my arms, and someone forced my jaw open. A bitter liquid flooded my throat, and I choked until I was coughing blood into my lap.
“What… what did you give me?” My voice broke as the burning spread through my chest.
Then it hit me. My skin flared in red blotches. My throat closed tight until every breath felt like knives cutting me. I knew this feeling. I was allergic with seafoods.
Wilbert’s voice cut through my panic. “You put peanuts in Nivianne’s food. She’s in the hospital now. I warned you not to touch her, but you never listen. So now you’ll understand what she went through.”