Chapter 1
I was nine months pregnant when my mother-in-law pinned me against the kitchen floor and tried to force a thick black liquid into my mouth. She thought her son was still away on business—until the front door opened.
I had been having contractions on and off all morning in our Atlanta home.
My due date was less than a week away.
Margaret arrived carrying a glass jar filled with something dark and syrupy.
“Drink this,” she ordered.
I stared at it.
“What is it?”
“Something women in my family have used for generations.”
“I’m not drinking anything my doctor hasn’t approved.”
Her expression hardened.
“You young women think doctors know everything.”
I stepped away from her.
“Put it down.”
Instead, Margaret grabbed my wrist.
“You’ve made this pregnancy difficult enough.”
“Let go of me.”
She suddenly shoved me backward onto the couch.
Before I could get up, she leaned her weight against me and grabbed my jaw.
Panic shot through me.
“Margaret, stop!”
She squeezed my cheeks and raised the cup toward my mouth.
“You’re drinking it.”
I twisted my head away, but some of the thick black liquid spilled between my lips.
I immediately started coughing.
My eyes watered as I pushed desperately against her.
“Get off me!”
Margaret only pressed harder.
“Stop being dramatic.”
That was when the front door opened.
“Emily?”
Margaret froze.
My husband, Ryan, stood in the doorway with his suitcase still beside him.
He had come home from Chicago a day early.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Ryan saw his mother holding my face and the black liquid spilled across my shirt.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Margaret jumped away from me.
“Ryan, this isn’t what it looks like.”
He rushed over and pulled me upright.
“She forced me to drink something.”
Ryan’s face changed instantly.
He turned and slapped Margaret across the face.
The cup flew from her hand.
“You put something unknown into my nine-month-pregnant wife’s mouth?”
Margaret stared at him in disbelief.
“I was helping her!”
“You were pinning her down.”
Ryan grabbed his phone.
“I’m calling 911.”
All the arrogance disappeared from Margaret’s face.
“No.”
Ryan stopped.
“Why not?”
She started shaking.
“It’s just an herbal mixture.”
“Then you can explain exactly what’s in it to the paramedics.”
Margaret suddenly lunged for the broken jar on the counter.
Ryan blocked her.
“What are you trying to hide?”
Then I felt a sharp pain across my stomach.
I grabbed Ryan’s arm.
“My contractions just changed.”
He immediately told the dispatcher I was nine months pregnant and had been forced to swallow an unknown substance.
Sirens started getting closer.
Margaret backed toward the hallway.
Then someone knocked violently on the front door.
Ryan opened it.
His older sister, Jessica, stood there completely out of breath.
The moment she saw the black liquid on the floor, her face went white.
“Mom gave that to Emily?”
Margaret whispered, “Jessica, don’t.”
Ryan stared at his sister.
“You know what this is?”
Jessica slowly nodded.
Then she looked at me.
“Emily, you need to tell the paramedics something before they take you to the hospital.”
Margaret suddenly tried to leave.
Ryan blocked the doorway.
Jessica’s next words made the entire room go silent.
“Because Mom tried the same mixture on another pregnant woman twenty-six years ago.”
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And when Ryan asked who that woman was, Jessica looked directly at him and said,
“Your biological mother.”
