"Bur:n:ing with a 40°C fever, I was barely able to stand when my husband lashed out because dinner wasn't waiting on the table. I didn't argue or cry. Instead, I quietly signed the divorce papers he tossed in front of me. Smirking, my mother-in-law said, “Who do you think you're intimidating? Walk out that door, and you'll be begging on the streets.”

I slumped heavily into the leather chair as my muscles refused to respond to my commands.

Mia walked over and casually leaned against Arthur's massive mahogany desk.

She explained that Ethan had taken out a massive life insurance policy on me shortly after we got married.

The policy was designed to pay out triple the normal amount in the event of an untimely medical tragedy.

Arthur watched me with cold, calculating eyes as he adjusted his expensive silk tie.

He explained that my sudden, severe fever was not a natural illness at all.

For the past month, Ethan had been secretly slipping a slow-acting, untraceable heavy metal poison into my daily vitamins.

The water I had just consumed from Arthur's crystal pitcher contained the final, lethal dose required to stop my heart.

Mia laughed softly, noting that my tragic death would perfectly tie up all their loose ends.

The FBI would simply assume I committed suicide out of guilt over the massive embezzlement investigation.

Leo raised his pistol and pointed it directly at Arthur's chest.

He demanded the antidote, screaming that he would pull the trigger if they did not hand it over.

Arthur did not even flinch, stating calmly that no antidote existed for this specific chemical compound.

My vision began to tunnel, and the edges of the room faded into a deep, heavy blackness.

I could hear Leo shouting my name, but his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.

My heart fluttered erratically in my chest before a sharp pain shot down my left arm.

I closed my eyes and let the darkness completely pull me under.

I woke up to the harsh, sterile smell of medical bleach and the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor.

I blinked against the blinding fluorescent lights shining directly above my head.

I was lying in a hospital bed with an intravenous line taped securely to the back of my hand.

A young doctor standing nearby noticed I was awake and rushed to my side.

He explained that an anonymous man had dropped me off at the emergency room just in time.

The medical team had successfully flushed the heavy toxins from my bloodstream using an experimental dialysis procedure.

He smiled kindly and told me that I was incredibly lucky to have survived the night.

The doctor left the room to update my medical chart at the nurses' station.

A few seconds later, the heavy door to my private room slowly creaked open.

A nurse wearing blue scrubs and a surgical mask walked in holding a large metal syringe.

“Which daughter is yours?” should have been a harmless question

The first wineglass shattered at 8:07 p.m

The moment the mafia boss’s wife called me “an illiterate servant,”

She locked the door behind her and pulled down her surgical mask.

It was Patricia, holding the deadly syringe with a terrifying smile on her face.

Chapter 5 - The Lethal Dose