I've always been close to my sister, Lyra. Growing up, she was my rock, my confidante. But after she married into the Peterson family, her life turned into a never-ending nightmare. She slaved away for them, catering to their every whim, and yet they treated her with nothing but disdain.

Unable to have children, my sister was subjected to something horrific by her mother-in-law, Amelia. She was forced to drink raw egg smoothies, some twisted folk remedy for infertility. Her sister-in-law, Giuliana, encouraged her friend to have an affair with Ryker, my brother-in-law. When Lyra sought a divorce, Ryker nearly beat her to death.

Upon hearing this, I made an escape from the mental institution where I had been held. I confronted her with fierce determination, "They say the mentally ill can't be held accountable for their actions. Sis, I will avenge you!" Lyra looked at me with a conflicted expression but didn't stop me.

---

When I learned that Lyra had been hospitalized after another vicious attack by her in-laws, I fled the asylum under the cover of night. Arriving at the hospital, I could hear the doctor’s voice filled with anger just outside her room.

"Raw egg smoothies? That's not something anyone should consume!" he exclaimed. "Her family has truly lost all sense of humanity! The toxins in her body are overwhelming, and combined with the severe beating, she might never be able to conceive again. You must take her home and help her recover, especially emotionally. Ensure she doesn't do anything rash."

Once the doctor left, I slipped into the room. Lyra lay weakly on the hospital bed, half her face wrapped in bandages, her eyes swollen and red, staring blankly at the floor. She didn’t even notice my entrance. Our father, Dexter, stood to the side, his face ashen with guilt and regret. Shock was evident in his eyes when he saw me.

I grasped Lyra’s trembling hand, piecing together the truth of her hospitalization from Dexter’s scattered words. It turned out that a year into her marriage to Ryker, without having produced a child, Lyra had become the target of Amelia's growing resentment.

Under Giuliana’s instigation, Amelia kept finding bizarre, traditional remedies for pregnancy, forcing Lyra to consume them for the sake of family peace. Lyra endured it silently until the day she saw Amelia toss freshly cracked raw eggs into a blender, their raw, glistening surfaces teeming with bacteria. Unaware of the danger, Lyra had been drinking the concoction for years.

Feeling sick, she pleaded with Ryker to intervene. But his response was chilling. "Others have two kids in three years of marriage, and you can't even manage one egg in two years. My mother’s naturally anxious. It won't kill you, so just make her happy."

For five long years, Lyra was coerced into taking this so-called remedy, the toxins accumulating until her body was ravaged. And when her efforts bore no fruit, Amelia’s disdain morphed into physical violence and verbal attacks. Giuliana even had the nerve to introduce her friend, Addilyn, to Ryker!

With shameless audacity, Ryker had an affair, right under my sister's roof. They made Lyra serve them, listen to them, humiliating her by making her wait on them while they were in her bed. Addilyn boldly flaunted her new status, treating Lyra like a servant.

Not long after, Addilyn became pregnant. Giuliana was insufferably smug, taunting Lyra that she was inferior. Ryker, convinced that Lyra was the problem, grew increasingly hostile. Amelia, overjoyed at the prospect of a grandchild, decreed that Lyra was to take care of Addilyn and then raise the baby once it was born.

Years of enduring such cruelty and indignity led Lyra to her breaking point, and she finally asked for a divorce. Ryker, in a fit of rage, put her in the hospital.

“Enough is enough!”

Dad was shaking with anger as he dialed Ryker's number without a second thought. Before Dad could even get a word out, Ryker launched into a rant.

"Lyra, you’ve got some nerve. You get hit once, end up in a hospital, and suddenly it’s a big drama? The whole family is waiting for you to come back and take care of them, and what do you do? You just leave. Honestly, you’re asking for it!" Amelia's voice echoed in the background.

"Get back here and make dinner! Don’t let my precious grandson go hungry."

"Some people can’t even have kids of their own but still want to ruin our family line. Keep dreaming!" Ryker chimed in immediately.

"Sienna’s pregnant and craving pulled pork; you better get back here and make it."

Dad was still trying to process all this when another harsh, malicious voice interjected.

"Brother, why go easy on her? Lyra’s probably off flirting with the doctors in the hospital! She’s just a woman who can’t do without a man!"

"She even tried flirting with her brother-in-law, absolutely shameless!"

I shuddered, the words stirring up painful memories, and mumbled to myself, "I didn’t... I'm not..." The nasty insults kept pouring through the phone, and as I grew more distressed, Dad angrily hung up, trying to comfort me.

I buried my face in my hands, tears streaming down uncontrollably. From the first day of my marriage to Ryker, Amelia would wake me at the crack of dawn to make breakfast for the entire family. Though I wanted to refuse, Ryker insisted it was their tradition. I gave in.

One compromise led to another. From then on, every day, I had to rise before dawn to make breakfast and rush home during lunch breaks to cook again. Sometimes, even when work kept me late, Amelia would show up at my office, accusing me of neglecting my in-laws.

Despite having a washing machine, they insisted I handwash everyone’s clothes, claiming it was gentler. They made me do everything myself, and it showed—I was visibly worn out. Yet, my husband turned a blind eye.

Ryker's sister, Giuliana, didn't work and constantly demanded my money. If I refused, I faced beatings from Amelia and Ryker. The bruises became a permanent part of me.

It got worse. One time Giuliana brought her boyfriend home, and because he glanced my way, she accused me of flirting with him, slapped me, and called me a homewrecker. Amelia, without knowing the full story, yanked my hair, while Ryker accused me of cheating and hit me. I ended up in the hospital for a week.

When I was finally discharged, I found a termination letter waiting for me at home. While I was hospitalized, Giuliana and Amelia spread lies about me at work and vandalized my desk to the point my company had no choice but to let me go.

Without a job, my standing in the family plummeted. I became nothing more than their unpaid maid, especially for Giuliana, who frequently hit and berated me.

It wasn't until Ryker’s infidelity that something snapped within me. My phone buzzed incessantly, family group messages flooding in, each more toxic than the last.

"Ryker’s wife is unbelievable, not thinking of the family at all. Can’t have kids herself but stops others!"

"In the past, a jealous wife like this would have been thrown out ages ago! How dare she even mention divorce with Ryker."

…

Ryker's self-righteous relatives were the final straws that crushed my spirit.

I bent down, pressing my cheek against my sister’s. Staring into the mirror, her pale face reflected the anger and defiance simmering within. I suddenly laughed softly.

"Sister, you know, those deemed insane don’t face the gallows for murder."

"Let me help you, okay?"

Eyes closed, she didn’t resist. Dad’s face was a mixture of emotions, and in the end, he remained silent.