My Wedding Night Revenge

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1: 1

The reception had barely ended when the groomsmen crowded up to the bedroom door, cradling a basket of eggs and snickering.

Here's a little welcome gift from all of us, sweetheart, one of them said.

Wish you a house full of sons and daughters, and all the good fortune your grandkids can bring.

Bartholomew Lyons grinned, threw the lock on the door, and turned to plant himself in front of it.

"They're just my boys having fun, no harm meant. It's all for good luck. Don't take it to heart."

I looked at the groomsmen, their eyes red, mouths practically watering, disgusting, and turned to Bartholomew.

"And if I refuse?"

Vincent Estes's face darkened at once.

"Refuse? Then I doubt these bridesmaids of yours make it out of the village in one piece."

I glanced back at the bridesmaids behind me, the ones who hadn't said a word this whole time, and I smiled.

"In that case, let me give you all a gift on their behalf too."

The groomsmen's eyes lit up, and one by one they broke into ugly grins.

"Oh? A gift, huh? Come on, let big brother have a look."

I swept my eyes over them and pulled a whip out of my bag, the one I used for training.

"This was a wedding gift from my master. Looks like it'll come in handy tonight."

"To beat the evil out. Only then can a home stay peaceful and everyone stay safe and sound."

...

Instead of getting angry, Vincent stroked his chin and stepped in closer.

"City girls really do play wild. I like this idea!"

He said it while putting on the shameless act.

"Sweetheart, you're going this hard before you've even crossed the threshold? Tonight's going to be a night no one sleeps through!"

The other groomsmen jeered right along with him, whistling.

My face went hard, and I pointed at the door and shouted.

"Get out. One more step forward and I call the police right now."

The smile vanished from Bartholomew's face. He stepped forward and clamped down on my wrist.

"Jennifer Henson, have you lost your mind? You just have to make me lose face today, is that it?"

"My childhood friends came out of goodwill to bring you luck, and you can't tell good from bad."

I couldn't twist free of his grip, and I stared at this man I'd been with for three years, unable to believe it.

The Bartholomew who was always so gentle and refined now wore a face so vicious it looked like a stranger's.

He forced my shoulders around, trying to make me bow and apologize to Vincent.

"Apologize to Vince, now!"

"The boys put a lot of thought into this part of the night, and you bridesmaids are going to play along, all of you!"

I watched him coldly, and none of the usual panic a bride might feel rose in me.

I'd grown up in the martial arts academy, and my father had taught me that the first thing in a crisis is to steady your breath.

I held down my anger, and then something occurred to me, like a bucket of cold water poured over my heart.

"Bartholomew, did you have this planned with them all along?"

"You just wanted to use this wedding-night hazing as cover to defile my friends?"

His eyes darted away, then landed on the groomsmen, and he squared his chest again like he had every right.

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"The bridesmaids are all single. On a joyful day like this, what's wrong with finding them a good man?"

"Two families joined, joy piled on joy, isn't that even better!"

Several groomsmen whistled and closed in at once, their eyes crawling openly up and down Hester Summers.

They had no idea Hester was the treasure my senior brothers guarded like the light of their lives.

The last punk who whistled at her outside the academy hadn't shown his face on that street in ten whole years.

Vincent raised an eyebrow and looked at me again.

"Bridesmaids are shy, too embarrassed. We get that."

"Heard you work at a foreign firm, sweetheart, the most open-minded of anyone. Why don't you set the example first?"

He picked an egg out of the basket and bounced it in his palm.

"That pretty little mouth of yours, I bet it looks pretty sucking too."

The watching groomsmen burst into laughter.

Bartholomew's brow twitched at that, like he didn't much care for it.

But for the sake of his childhood friends, he swallowed the words back down and said nothing.

Hester couldn't stand it. She rushed forward, shoved Bartholomew aside, and put herself in front of me.

"Bartholomew, are you even a man?"

"Your own wife gets insulted to her face and you don't dare make a sound?"

Vincent seized the chance, grabbed Hester's wrist, and yanked her hard against his chest.

"Oh, I like that fire. Since you're so eager, you go first."

Hester fought with everything she had, driving her heel down onto Vincent's foot.

Vincent didn't get angry. He only held her tighter, and the groomsmen around him roared with laughter.

I was shaking with rage. I snatched the can of hairspray off the vanity and blasted it straight into their eyes.

"Back off."

While they clutched their eyes and screamed, I moved.

I grabbed Hester, along with the other two bridesmaids frozen with fear, and pulled them fast toward the bathroom inside the bedroom.

The instant the four of us squeezed in, I slammed the door behind me and locked it tight.

Bartholomew cursed and pounded on the door.

"Jennifer, get out here. Everyone's wedding gets a little rowdy like this. Why not yours?"

"You humiliate me like this, how am I supposed to hold my head up in this village?"

I leaned against the door, gasping for breath, thinking I could finally breathe easy. And as I reached for my phone to call for help,

it went quiet outside. Then came the click of metal scraping in the lock.

2: 2

Bartholomew's voice came through the door, cold and sneering.

"You think hiding in there fixes anything? You forgot. This is my house. I've got a spare key."

The bathroom handle began to press slowly downward.

"Don't let go. Hold it shut, hard."

I braced my back flat against the door, planted my feet, and threw my whole weight into it.

The bridesmaids snapped to it and pushed against the door with me.

But the groomsmen outside had gone wild, throwing their bodies against it.

Each slam sent a numbing jolt through my bones, and my shoulder ached like it might split apart.

Hester and I had been guarded so carefully by the academy's senior students all our lives that neither of us had kept up a scrap of real training.

In a situation like this, going head-to-head with grown men was just asking to get hurt.

All I could do was keep turning over some way out, some way to turn it back on them.

Heavy panting and laughter came from the other side.

"You really think you're safe hiding in there? Put your backs into it, boys."

Bartholomew spoke up unhurriedly, his tone sliding right back into the soft, coaxing note he'd used on me earlier.

"Jenny, open the door yourself, now."

"Come out like a good girl and finish the game, and I can still talk them out of laying a hand on you."

"Otherwise, once they force their way in and their tempers are up, I won't be able to control them."

I clenched my teeth, shaking with rage, and refused to give him a single word.

At the one moment that mattered, I couldn't count on this coward to shield me, and not one word out of his mouth could be trusted.

Just as we were about to lose the door, my mother-in-law's voice came from outside.

A flicker of hope shot up in me.

She was a woman too, and our elder. Surely she could put a stop to this farce.

But she didn't try to stop it. She screamed at me instead.

"Jennifer, get your ass out here right now."

"For miles around, what new bride doesn't get put through the wedding-night hazing? What makes you so precious?"

"On your own wedding day, hiding in the toilet? Are you trying to bring bad luck down on this family?"

I bit down hard, tears swimming in my eyes.

"Mom, they're acting like thugs. Bartholomew won't stop it, and now you won't either?"

"What thugs? This is a custom our ancestors passed down. No hazing means bad luck."

Her voice dropped lower, thick with the disgust of someone who couldn't whip a nail into shape.

"She wants to play the prude, so use the screwdriver and pry it. First day married, you set the rules with her, and set them right."

"Won't even go along with a game. How are we supposed to count on her to serve and honor her in-laws later?"

Bartholomew picked it up from outside, and his voice carried a cruelty I'd never heard from him.

"Jennifer, always so high and mighty. You really think being some white-collar somebody makes you special?"

"Today you married into the Lyons family, and this temper of yours needs a good reining in."

Soon a prying sound came from the crack, and the tip of the screwdriver poked through.

It forced open a gap a finger wide.

With the men outside chanting as they slammed into it, the gap kept widening.

Hester threw herself to the front to shield me, and her fingers got caught in the crack.

The senior students never even let her carry the heavier sandbags, and now she was pushed to this.

The men outside slammed in again.

The pain drained the color from her face, tears springing from the corners of her eyes, but she bit her lip and refused to let go.

It broke my heart. I yanked her back fast.

"Hester, are you okay?"

She shook her head, biting her lip, one hand tucked behind her back, the other still braced hard against the door.

Outside, my mother-in-law kept urging them on.

"Push, damn it. A bunch of grown men can't shove one door open? Aren't you ashamed?"

"Once her family notices, there'll be no chance to haze the bride."

Vincent's voice was almost giddy.

"Stop struggling. Let your big brothers come in and help you out."

Bartholomew swore too.

"Once I'm in there, I'll show you exactly what a wedding-night hazing is."

Then his hand shoved through the crack and clamped onto my wedding gown.

"Get out here, you!"

A huge pull ripped through it. My foot slipped and I lost my balance.

The door flew wide open.

3: 3

My body pitched forward against my will, slamming toward the doorway.

Pain shot through me all at once, and for an instant everything went white.

Hester screamed, forgetting her own crushed, purpling fingers, and threw herself forward to shove Bartholomew off me.

"You animals, I'll take you all down with me!"

But she was a girl who barely weighed a hundred pounds. What chance did she have against these village thugs who worked the fields every day?

Vincent stepped up, sneering, and brought the back of his hand down in a hard slap across her clean, pale face.

"Get out of the way. I'll deal with you later!"

Five red finger-marks bloomed across Hester's cheek. She staggered, and her back struck the corner of the vanity.

She slid to the floor and lay there, unable to catch her breath for a long moment.

"Hester."

My eyes stung as I tried to scramble up and go to her.

But the next second, a pair of big hands clamped down hard on my shoulders from behind.

The face that had once been so gentle with me was now twisted beyond recognition.

"Jennifer, so you make a little more money than me and suddenly you forget who you are?"

He pressed down on my shoulders, his knuckles white.

"Let me tell you something. Once you're in the Lyons house, dragon or phoenix, you learn to keep your head down."

"You don't bow today, this doesn't end."

Mavis stood to the side, lifting the basket of eggs and setting it on the edge of the bed with a smile.

"All right, all right, had your fun? Get this cleaned up so they can consummate the marriage."

The groomsmen traded leering looks and slowly closed in.

The whole room was full of their filth, the reek of liquor on their breath enough to make me gag.

Vincent picked up a raw egg and came toward me, eyebrows raised.

"All the good luck's tucked in here. Just bow your head, and your days ahead are guaranteed to be lively."

The other groomsmen dissolved into laughter, whistling and egging him on.

I twisted my body with everything I had and kicked out, catching Bartholomew square in the shin.

He sucked in a sharp breath of pain and let go on reflex.

Then, humiliated and furious, he swung his arm and slapped me hard across the face.

My cheek swelled hot and stinging in an instant, and a faint taste of rust seeped from the corner of my mouth.

The room swayed before it steadied.

I froze. Three years together, and he had never laid a finger on me.

Now, in front of this pack of scum, he'd hit me.

Bartholomew seemed startled by his own hand too. But then he heard the excited howls of the groomsmen.

And something twisted and smug crept into his eyes instead.

He seized my hair again, forcing my head up so I had to look straight at him, and softened his voice into a coax.

"Jenny, sweetheart, you've got such a pretty little face. Why go asking for a beating?"

"Bruise it up and it won't be pretty anymore. Play along, everybody's happy, and your husband will treat you right from now on."

He probably thought a slap followed by a sweet word would be enough to cow me.

But he had no idea where I'd grown up.

My father taught me from the time I was small: a martial artist's bones can break, but the neck must never bend.

Vincent, egg pinched between his fingers, sauntered up in front of me.

The liquor on him mixed with the stink of cheap cigarettes, close enough to choke me.

Hester lay slumped in the corner, her back still not recovered, but she stretched out her hand as hard as she could and still couldn't reach me.

The other bridesmaids were pinned by the groomsmen and couldn't come to help.

Bartholomew's hand bore down hard on the back of my head, slowly building pressure.

"Be good. Cooperate, and it'll be over fast."

4: 4

The eggshell was already at my lips.

I opened my mouth and bit down hard on the web of Bartholomew's hand, the part pinning me in place.

I put everything I had into it, biting like I meant to take the flesh clean off.

Bartholomew screamed, and the pain jerked his hand back on reflex.

The instant he let go, I used the give to shove myself up and drove my knee straight up.

The blow landed dead-on, right into the softest, most fragile spot between Vincent's legs.

Vincent's face went white in a heartbeat, his eyes bulging like they'd pop out of his skull.

He curled into a ball, both hands clamped over himself, and rolled on the floor.

The egg dropped from between his legs, cracked on the ground, and smeared everywhere as he rolled over it again and again.

I used the chaos to scramble to the other side of the bed and grabbed the brass table lamp off the nightstand.

The solid base had to weigh a good ten pounds. It sat heavy and real in my hand.

I lifted it and smashed it down against the edge of the bed.

With a sharp crash, the glass shade shattered into countless jagged shards.

Gripping the base tight, I turned the broken glass on them and moved slowly toward the bridesmaids.

The groomsmen closest to me had been about to lunge again. When they saw what was in my hand, their feet stalled.

"One step closer and I'll put this through his eye. Anyone who isn't afraid to die is welcome to try."

The sheer force of it froze them. For a moment, none of them dared come forward.

Bartholomew clutched his bleeding hand, hopping in a rage.

"Jennifer, you looking to start a rebellion?"

"If I don't break you tonight, how am I ever supposed to hold my head up in this village again?"

Beside him, his mother's eyes went red too, and she started calling toward the door.

"Someone get in here! The world's turned upside down, the new bride won't be managed, she's trying to kill us!"

"What are you all standing around for? Get outside and bring the relatives in to help hold her down!"

The men outside heard the commotion and started pushing into the room.

I herded the bridesmaids back to the window, put my spine against the wall, and made sure no one could jump me from behind.

Then, fast, I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

Bartholomew saw the phone and froze for a second, then threw his head back and laughed.

"Calling the cops? Jennifer, did the fright scramble your brain?"

"You remember the scene when you got here today? The wedding cars blocked the village road solid ages ago."

"Out here in these mountains, even if the police pick up, they'd need wings and two hours to fly in."

"By the time they get here, the deed's long done. Save your strength. Nobody's saving you tonight."

No wonder they were so brazen today. They'd worked it all out in advance.

Too bad for them. I wasn't some lamb in their cage, waiting to be slaughtered.

Hester tugged at the hem of my dress, glancing at her own phone to tell me not to worry about the police.

And I wasn't dialing 911 either.

Instead, I opened my contacts and pressed the number that had sat pinned at the top all year.

It rang once and was answered on the spot.

Through the receiver came a roar of voices and the clink of glasses. My academy brothers were clearly still at a banquet in the village.

I stared at the crowd closing in on me and let out a cold laugh into the phone.

"Brothers... someone just laid hands on your little junior sister!"