Chapter 2

My heart slammed against my ribs like a dying animal, and in an instant cold sweat soaked through the nightshirt clinging to my back.

They knew each other.

Not only did they know each other, they'd formed an alliance.

My mind raced, trying to piece the truth together from every scrap of the past.

I thought back to two weeks ago, not long after Nora joined the company, when she'd volunteered to take over making my coffee every morning.

She always smiled, her eyes curving sweetly, and said,

"Mr. Henson, this is a pour-over I went and learned specially. I added a little something to the syrup. Try it."

That coffee did have a strange, rich aroma. Every time I finished it I'd feel oddly wired, and then, once that faded, by afternoon I'd sink into a deep exhaustion and headache.

Back then I only thought I'd been running myself ragged.

And Teresa. It must have started about three months ago, when she suddenly became intensely concerned about my health.

She'd switched all my blood-pressure medication over to "imported specialty pills" that came in a clear little unlabeled case, saying she'd had someone buy them abroad at a high price.

Every time she watched me swallow them, she'd give me that gentle smile.

I'd fancied myself the hunter who controlled everything, treating Teresa as a docile house sparrow and Nora as a canary that came whenever I called.

Who could have guessed the two of them had long since been in secret contact, weaving a poisoned net for me together inside this gorgeous cage.

"All right, stop teasing him."

Teresa's voice cut through my memory.

I heard heels moving, and Teresa came around to the other side of the bed.

Then a faintly cool hand settled on my forehead.

That was Teresa's hand.

These hands had made me soup countless times, ironed countless shirts, and yet now their touch felt like being stroked by death itself.

"It's about time. We should feed our Mr. Henson his medicine." There was a condescending pity in Teresa's tone.

"I'll help you, sis," Nora chimed in at once.

I felt the two of them lift my upper body together and prop two high, soft pillows behind my back.

Then two fingers pinched my chin hard, forcing my mouth open.

"Come on, Julian, be good and take your medicine. Once you do, there'll be no more suffering."

Teresa's voice was so soft it could have dripped water.

My teeth stayed clenched shut.

I couldn't take it. Absolutely not. There was something wrong with these pills.

That curse—"turn him into a complete vegetable"—was still circling in my head. If I swallowed these pills, I really would spend the rest of my life flat on this bed, left to be carved up by these two vicious women.

"Ugh, why is he clenching so hard?" Nora complained under her breath.

"It's normal. A stroke patient's chewing muscles spasm sometimes."

Teresa said it coldly, and then suddenly her fingers dug into the joint of my jaw and pressed down hard.

Pain shot through me. I let out an involuntary grunt, and my mouth was forced open.

Two pills, bitter with an overpowering harshness, were shoved roughly deep against the back of my tongue, and cold water poured in right after.

Teresa's other hand clamped down hard over my nose.

The instinct to survive made me desperate to spit the pills out, but I didn't dare open my eyes, still less put up any violent resistance. The moment I let slip that I could actually move, alone in this sealed room with two women scheming against me, I had no idea what more insane thing they might do.

The water swirled the pills around in my throat, and I broke into a violent, choking cough, tears leaking from the corners of my shut eyes.

Suffocating, all I could do was jam the tip of my tongue against those two pills, force them up into the crease between my palate and my gums, and then, along with the water, pretend to let my throat bob and swallow a big mouthful down.

"Cough, cough… ugh…" A meaningless gurgle came out of my throat, my chest heaving hard, like a dead fish tossed up on the bank.

"There, see, he swallowed it."

Teresa let go of my nose and, with obvious disgust, wiped the water off my chin with a towel.

Nora giggled beside her.

"Sis, look at him now. Where's any of that swagger he used to have, chewing out the executives in meetings?"

Teresa tossed the towel onto the nightstand, and it landed with a soft slap.

"Enough. It'll take a little while for the drug to kick in. Let him sleep.

Let's go to the living room and go over the company financial statements you copied yesterday. Let's see how much of our marital assets he's been quietly moving without telling me."

The door opened and shut, and with a click of the lock the room fell back into a dead silence.

I lay in the dark, made sure their footsteps had faded, and only then snapped my eyes open.

I dragged great mouthfuls of air into my lungs. Shaking all over, I mustered every ounce of strength to turn my head and spat the two pills, gone soft and mushy from the water, into the crease at the edge of the pillow.

The bitter taste of the medicine spread through my mouth. I stared hard at the elaborate pattern of the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, my eyes shot through with red.

Moving assets? Financial statements? Nora had actually used her position to steal my business secrets and hand them to Teresa?

These two bitches wanted to sideline me completely, take everything I'd worked so hard to build, and turn me into a real, actual vegetable.

I couldn't just sit here and wait to die. I had to fight back.