Chapter 4

The day after we signed the papers, Dallas brought Alanna home. He didn' t even wait for me to move out. She walked into my home, our home, with the air of a conquering queen.

She went straight to my bedroom, our bedroom, and began directing movers to take out my furniture. "This all has to go," she declared, wrinkling her nose at the custom-made Italian pieces I had spent months selecting. "It's so... outdated."

She went through the house like a storm, tearing down my paintings, rolling up my rugs, replacing my life with her own serene, minimalist aesthetic. She was erasing me. And Dallas stood by, watching with a satisfied smile.

A few days later, she insisted we all go on an outing. "A family trip," she called it, her voice sickly sweet. "To the private wildlife sanctuary Dallas owns. It will be good for us to bond."

I wanted to refuse, but Dallas gave me a look that was both a plea and a command. Play along, it said. For us.

So I went.

The sanctuary was a sprawling estate, a private zoo for the ultra-rich. We found ourselves in the reptile house, the air thick and humid. In the center of the room was a massive glass enclosure housing a Burmese python. It was huge, its coiled body as thick as my thigh.

Alanna clung to Dallas's arm. "Oh, Dallas, can we see it up close? Please?" she cooed. "I've never been so close to one before."

"Alanna, it's dangerous," Dallas said, but there was no force behind his words.

"But I want to," she whined, pouting her lips.

He caved, of course. He always caved for her. He ordered the keeper to open the glass enclosure and had two of his bodyguards stand by, just in case.

The humid air grew heavy with a new tension. Alanna, however, was oblivious. She stepped inside, her eyes wide with a childish curiosity. She pointed at a clutch of large, leathery eggs in the corner.

"Can I touch one?" she asked.

Before anyone could answer, she moved toward the nest.

The python, which had been dormant, uncoiled with terrifying speed. Its head rose, its forked tongue flicking, its black eyes fixed on the intruders. It began to move toward us.

Dallas reacted instantly. He grabbed Alanna and pulled her behind him, shielding her with his body.

That left me.

I was the closest one to the enraged snake. It moved with a silent, liquid grace. In a blink, it was on me. Its body wrapped around my torso, a thick, muscular band of pressure. It squeezed.

The air rushed from my lungs. I couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. My ribs creaked under the strain.

A memory flashed in my mind. Just before we entered the reptile house, Alanna had "accidentally" stumbled, spilling her water bottle all over my jacket. The liquid had a strange, musky scent.

I realized with a sickening certainty what it was. A lure. Something to attract and enrage the snake.

This wasn't an accident. She was trying to kill me.

My adrenaline surged. Time seemed to warp, slowing down. I knew struggling would only make the python squeeze harder. I forced myself to go limp, to conserve what little oxygen I had left.

"Do something!" Dallas roared at his bodyguards.

"Don't kill it!" Alanna shrieked, tears streaming down her face. "We can't take a life! It's against my faith!"

She was a picture of terrified innocence, a benevolent saint trying to protect a poor, misunderstood creature. The same creature she had just sicced on me.

A sharp crack echoed in my ears. A rib. Then another. My vision started to go dark at the edges. The world was a muffled roar.

The bodyguards were hesitant, their guns raised but unable to get a clear shot with Alanna hysterically flailing in front of them.

"Sir, we have to shoot!" one of them yelled at Dallas. "She's running out of time!"

"No!" Alanna cried, grabbing Dallas's arm. "You can't! There has to be another way!"

And then, in that moment, with the life being squeezed out of me, Dallas did the unthinkable. He turned to Alanna. He gently wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Don't cry," he murmured to her.

I saw it. I saw him choose her.

With my last ounce of strength, I forced his name from my lips. "Dallas..."

It was a pathetic, gurgling sound.

Alanna stepped in front of the bodyguard's gun. "We can wait for it to calm down!" she said, her voice filled with a righteous certainty. "It will let her go eventually!"

In the chaos, one of the bodyguards finally took a shot. It must have been a lucky one. The bullet hit the snake in the eye.

The pressure around my chest loosened. The python' s body went slack, slithering to the ground in a heavy heap.

I collapsed next to it, gasping for air, the world spinning back into focus. I was alive.

But I knew, with a chilling clarity, that if it had been up to my husband, I would be dead.