I clenched my teeth, lunged to my feet, and dove for the pendant. I craned my neck up and clamped it between my teeth.
Jarvis saw this and kicked me over. I lost my balance and collapsed directly onto the still-burning portrait.
The licking flames swallowed my already-festering wounds in an instant. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air as searing, bone-deep pain tore through every nerve in my body.
"Who let this piece of trash in here?!"
Jarvis planted his foot on my head and ground down with all his weight.
"Spit that filthy thing out!"
A suffocating pressure exploded through my temple. I kept the pendant locked between my teeth, glared up at Jarvis with bloodshot eyes, and forced the words through my clenched jaw.
"You animal. You'll pay for this."
"Remember what I'm telling you. Everything you've done today, I will return to you a thousandfold."
"Return it to me? Keep dreaming!"
A vicious gleam surfaced in the depths of Jarvis's eyes. He raised his fist and brought it hammering down on my skull.
"You crossed the Farley heir. You'll never crawl out from under my heel."
When I still refused to let go, Jarvis reached in and started wrenching the pendant out with brute force. The metal chain shredded the inside of my mouth. Blood streamed from the corners of my lips in a steady flow.
But Jarvis had no intention of stopping.
Crack.
The sound of a tooth snapping. I bit down harder.
Jarvis's hands were slick with blood. His patience had run out. He kicked me aside, wiped the blood off on my clothes, then pulled out his phone and shoved the screen in my face.
"You piece of garbage. If you don't spit that filthy thing out, I'll show you exactly what the Farley heir is capable of."
The moment I saw what was on that screen, I froze as if struck by lightning.
On the surveillance feed, lying in an ICU bed, was my foster mother.
"You worthless dog. I'm counting to three. If you don't let go, that old woman dies today."
"Three..."
"Two..."
Jarvis rasped an order into the phone to whoever was on the other end.
"Cut the old hag's tubes—"
"I'll spit it out!"
My whole body trembled as I spat the pendant containing my foster father's ashes onto the floor.
"There... take it..."
Jarvis pulled a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and picked up the pendant, now slick with my blood. He looked at me with a twisted smile.
He stared down at my bloodshot eyes, then planted his foot on top of my head.