Chapter 2 - The Poisoned Tea
I stared at the doctor in absolute disbelief.
“That is impossible,” I stammered.
“Emily has been incredibly careful with her diet for the past eight months.”
The doctor shook his head, flipping to the second page of the medical chart.
“The lab found concentrated traces of an obscure herbal root known to trigger severe, premature uterine contractions.”
He asked if she had been taking any unregulated supplements or special teas.
A chilling memory instantly flashed through my mind.
For the past two months, my mother had insisted on brewing a special "pregnancy wellness" tea for Emily every single evening.
Teresa claimed it was an old family recipe passed down for generations to ensure a healthy baby.
I had thanked my mother for caring, completely blind to the monster living in my own home.
“My mother,” I whispered, the realization making my stomach churn with violent nausea.
“My mother has been making her tea every night.”
The doctor’s expression hardened immediately.
“You need to find whatever she was giving her and bring it to this hospital right now.”
“If we do not identify the exact botanical compound, we might not be able to stop the premature labor.”
I ran out of the hospital and drove back to my apartment like a madman.
I was ready to tear the kitchen apart to find the toxic leaves she had been feeding my wife.
I burst through the front door of my apartment, my fists clenched and my blood boiling.
The living room was completely silent.
The television was turned off, and the pizza boxes had been shoved aside.
I walked cautiously down the hallway toward the kitchen, listening for any sign of my family.
I heard a strange, metallic scraping sound coming from our master bedroom.
I pushed the bedroom door open and froze in my tracks.
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My mother and three sisters were standing around my opened floor safe.
They were eagerly stuffing stacks of my emergency cash and Emily's expensive jewelry into a large duffel bag.
