Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Started EverythingMy mother pointed toward my husband's mother.
“She began it.”
My mother-in-law stood at the top of the basement stairs.
Her face was expressionless.
I stared at her.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“Everything.”
My husband looked devastated.
“Mom…”
She ignored him.
“Our family had been losing sons for generations.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Your father wanted money.”
My mother corrected her.
“He wanted his daughter's life saved.”
My mother-in-law smiled.
“So did I.”
I felt confused.
“You don't even know me.”
“I knew you before you could walk.”
She explained that Lena's illness had been used as leverage.
My father signed an agreement.
The family would save one daughter.
But years later, when Lena survived, the family's curse supposedly transferred to me.
The first-born daughter would become the vessel.
I laughed bitterly.
“That's insane.”
My mother stared at the mark on my wrist.
“It is real.”
My husband's mother stepped closer.
“Your wedding wasn't a wedding.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“It was an initiation.”
My husband shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You knew.”
He began crying.
I backed away.
“You knew?”
He couldn't answer.
I suddenly remembered the strange documents I had signed before the wedding.
I had assumed they were legal marriage papers.
But there had been another document.
A page my husband told me not to worry about.
I turned to him.
“What did I sign?”
His mother answered.
“The transfer.”
The black mark on my wrist began spreading.
Under my skin.
Like ink.
My mother screamed.
“Get her out of this house!”
The doors slammed shut.
The windows shattered.
Every clock in the house stopped at exactly 3:00 A.M.
Then Lena appeared at the basement entrance.
She looked at me.
May you like
“Now you know why I disappeared.”
And she held out a knife.
