He called in a private physician. Several people pinned me to the table while the doctor inserted the needle. They drew a full eight hundred milliliters of blood.
My vision went black. Cold seeped through every inch of my body. I crumpled to the floor, too weak to even lift a finger.
Stan looked down at me. There was nothing in his eyes. No pity. No hesitation. Nothing.
"This is just the beginning."
"Jade, everything you owe Annette, I will take back from you. Piece by piece."
For days after the blood draw, I burned with a fever that wouldn't break.
Stan refused to let anyone call a doctor. The only thing the housekeeper was allowed to give me was a bitter herbal concoction forced down my throat each day.
I was too weak to leave the bed.
Annette, on the other hand, made a point of visiting my room to gloat.
"Jade, you really are pathetic right now."
She dragged a manicured nail down my cheek.
"Stan doesn't love you. He never did. Every time he touches you, it makes his skin crawl."
"Your wedding night, he actually..."
She paused on purpose, pressing her fingers to her lips to stifle a coy little laugh.
"He actually hired some homeless man off the street to keep you company."