Six months after my husband, Caleb Frost, received his kidney transplant, his first love, Scarlett, had been the one taking care of him. She had even specially procured a custom herbal remedy for him. The broth was garishly bright in color and carried a pungent, acrid stench. “Caleb, this is a secret formula I begged someone for. It’s the best for restoring your vitality,” she cooed softly, blowing on the spoon to cool it before bringing it to his lips, her posture the picture of docile submission. I reached out to stop him, but Caleb swatted my hand away with a harsh sweep, sending me crashing to the floor. “Stop making a scene.” His eyes were heavy with disgust. Right in front of me, he drank the entire bowl down. Watching the two of them nestled together, I wiped the trail of blood from the back of my hand and smiled faintly. “Caleb,” I whispered, my voice soft as silk, “you absolutely must… live a long, long life.” “Caleb, drink it while it’s hot. I spent a full eight hours making this for you.” Scarlett smiled brightly, holding a delicate white porcelain bowl as she stood in the backstage lounge of the Frost Group’s tenth anniversary gala. The bowl held a dark brown broth, giving off a strange, sweet-metallic smell. Caleb sat on the leather couch, his eyes warm and soft. “Scarlett, you didn’t have to go through all this trouble. You just got back—you shouldn’t be wearing yourself out for me.” He reached out to take the bowl. Bang! I shoved the lounge door open. My heels clicked sharply against the marble floor. The air in the room went dead still. I strode across the room, grabbed the porcelain bowl straight out of Scarlett’s hands, and slammed it down hard on the coffee table. Broth splashed everywhere. A few dark drops landed on my white couture gown, like dried bloodstains. “Victoria! What is wrong with you!” Caleb shot to his feet, face ashen. The warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced instantly by cold contempt. I stared him down. “Caleb, your kidney transplant was less than six months ago! The doctors told you over and over—don’t consume anything from an unknown source. Are you trying to get yourself killed?” “Unknown source?” Caleb let out a short, cold laugh. “Scarlett is my chief assistant. More than that, she’s my… close friend. The soup she makes is a hundred times better than anything you’ve ever put on the table—and you’re barely a wife in the first place.” Scarlett went pale. She shrank behind Caleb like a frightened deer. “Victoria, please don’t be angry. This is all my fault… I just felt bad seeing Caleb work so hard every day. With his kidney condition, I wanted to help, so I tracked down a secret recipe…” Her eyes welled up, her voice thick with hurt. “If you don’t want me to make it anymore, I won’t. Just please, don’t fight with Caleb because of me.” What a performance. I looked at her coldly. “Scarlett, drop the act. You know exactly what you put in that soup.” “That is enough!” Caleb pulled Scarlett into his arms and spun toward me, furious. “Victoria, do you have some kind of paranoia? Scarlett did something kind, and you have to make it this ugly? Look at yourself right now. Is this how the wife of the Frost family is supposed to act?” I watched him hold Scarlett close, and something invisible wrapped around my chest and squeezed until I couldn’t breathe. Me? Making a scene? Six months ago, when his kidneys failed and his life hung by a thread—who was the one standing outside that operating room, hands shaking so badly she could barely sign the critical condition forms? Who was the one who slipped into the room next door, climbed onto a surgical table, and let them cut a kidney out of her own body so he could live? Me! Victoria! But when he woke up, the first face he saw was Scarlett’s—his first love, who had rushed back from overseas. All it took was a few of her tears, and she became everything to him. And I became the villain standing in the way of their great love story. “You want to drink it? Fine.” I laughed, past caring now, and pointed at the bowl. “Get your will in order first. Sign your Frost Group shares over to me—then drink as much as you want. I won’t stop you from killing yourself.” Smack. A hard slap cracked across my face. My head snapped to the side. My ears rang. I tasted blood. Caleb pointed toward the door, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at an enemy. “Victoria. Get out! Stop making a scene.” I pressed my hand to my burning cheek and slowly turned to look at the man I had loved for ten years. Ten years. From college sweethearts on campus, to building a company from nothing side by side, to standing together as the president and first lady of Frost Group. I had been with him through the hardest years of his life. I had given him a piece of my own body. And now, for a woman who had walked away from him five years ago, he had hit me. “Caleb, stop it…” Scarlett grabbed Caleb’s sleeve, her voice dripping with false concern. “Victoria just cares about you.” “She cares about me?” Caleb spat through clenched teeth. “She can’t wait for me to drop dead so she can get her hands on everything in Frost Group.” I stood there watching them, and suddenly the whole thing struck me as absurd. I laughed. “Fine, Caleb. Remember what you just said.” I didn’t look at either of them again. I turned and walked out of the lounge. Out in the hallway, a handful of executives and assistants were craning their necks, peering in our direction. The moment they saw me, they dropped their eyes and pretended nothing had happened. But I knew. By tomorrow, the whole company would be talking — the CEO’s wife got slapped in front of everyone, and the mistress had officially won. I straightened my spine, held my head up, and walked out of the banquet hall one deliberate step at a time, heels clicking against the floor. The night air outside was brutal. It hit my face like a blade. I pulled open the car door, dropped into the driver’s seat, and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. My knuckles turned white. The scar along my right side had started to ache again — that dull, familiar throb. It was the mark left by the kidney surgery. A scar that would never fully go away. I took a slow, deep breath and forced the tightness in my chest back down. Victoria, don’t you dare cry. He’s not worth a single tear. I pulled out a tissue and dabbed the corners of my eyes. Then my gaze drifted down to my dress — a few small brown splatters on the hem. That strange smell hit me again. Sweet and metallic at the same time. Something was wrong. That was not the smell of ordinary broth.
Downtown General Hospital. Laboratory. Julian stood in his white coat, brow furrowed, staring at the tissue I’d handed him. He was my senior in college, and the youngest attending physician this hospital had ever had. Six months ago, he was the one who performed the kidney transplant surgery — the one between me and Caleb. “What happened to your face?” His eyes went straight to the swelling on my cheek. “Got bit by a dog,” I said flatly. “Julian, can you run a test on whatever’s on this tissue?” He studied me for a long moment, then didn’t ask anything more. He took the tissue and disappeared into the lab. Waiting is always its own kind of torture. I sat on a bench in the hallway, and my mind kept replaying it — Caleb’s hand, swinging toward my face. For Scarlett. No hesitation in his eyes. No guilt. Just cold, bone-deep contempt. Why? Even if he didn’t love me anymore. Even if Scarlett was the only one who mattered to him. That didn’t explain this level of hatred. Unless… Scarlett had told him something. Two hours later, Julian came back out holding a report. His expression was grim. More than grim — there was something almost like shock on his face. “Vicky.” His voice was careful. “I need you to tell me the truth. Where did this come from?” “Caleb’s assistant made him a batch of broth.” My stomach dropped. “Why? Is it poisoned?” Julian exhaled slowly and handed me the report. “Not ordinary poison. The broth contains a high concentration of Ghost Poppy extract — and a rare neurotoxin.” “Ghost Poppy?” I blinked. “It’s a controlled substance.” His voice dropped low. “It doesn’t just cause addiction — severe psychological dependency. But what makes it truly dangerous is what happens when it’s combined with that neurotoxin. Together, they produce a slow, targeted destruction effect on transplanted organs.” My entire body went cold. The blood in my veins felt like it had stopped moving. “What does that mean?” “It means this substance mimics transplant rejection. It attacks the new kidney inside Caleb’s body — slowly, piece by piece. Within six months, his kidney function will fail completely.” Julian looked at me, and his eyes were filled with something that looked like dread. “Victoria, whoever did this isn’t just trying to control him. They want him dead. And it’s almost impossible to trace — even at autopsy, it would look like natural post-operative rejection.” “This is a perfect murder.” My mind went completely blank. Murder. Scarlett wanted to kill Caleb? Why?She’d been saying she loved him since the moment she came back. She’d barely been off the plane before she was by his side. If Caleb died, what would she gain? “Victoria, this is serious.” Julian’s voice cut through the silence. “We have to go to the police. Right now.” “No.” I snapped back to the present and grabbed his arm. “We can’t.” “Why not? His life is in danger!” “Because I have no proof.” I said through gritted teeth. “The residue on that tissue isn’t nearly enough to prove Scarlett did anything. She could just turn around and claim I planted it to frame her. Caleb is completely wrapped around her finger right now — he’ll never believe me.” What mattered more was figuring out why Scarlett was doing this. What was she hiding? “Julian, please keep this between us for now. Don’t tell anyone.” I looked at him, pleading. Julian let out a sigh and wrapped his hand around mine. “Okay. I promise. But Victoria — you have to protect yourself. That woman is far more dangerous than you think.” By the time I left the hospital, it was deep into the night. I came home to an empty villa. The living room was dark. Caleb hadn’t come home. Since Scarlett came back, he’d been staying out more and more often. I walked over to the bar cart, poured myself a glass of whiskey, and downed it in one go. The burn traced down my throat and into my stomach — and somehow, it cleared my head like nothing else could. Scarlett. You set up this whole game. Fine. Let’s play. I picked up my phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Jack. I need you to look into someone.” Jack was the best private investigator in the business. As long as the money was right, there wasn’t a secret he couldn’t dig up. “Victoria. Go ahead.” “Scarlett — personal assistant to the president of Frost Group. I want everything on her from the past five years abroad. Phone records, bank statements, and… every single person she’s had contact with since coming back.”
I hung up and stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, staring out at the city lights below. Caleb. You think you’ve found true love. But you just walked straight into a trap with no way out. And when it all falls apart, I’ll be the one left to deal with what’s left of you. The next morning, I did what I always did. Full makeup. A sharp, well-fitted blazer. I walked through the doors of Frost Group like I owned the place — because I did. As co-founder, I held thirty percent of the company’s shares. Outside of Caleb, I was the largest shareholder. Over the past two years, I’d stepped back from management to care for Caleb while he was sick. Now it was time to take back what was mine. I stepped off the elevator and immediately spotted Scarlett standing outside my office, directing a group of workers moving furniture around. “Careful with that — Caleb had that Italian leather sofa custom-ordered from overseas. Don’t scratch it.” She was in a Chanel couture dress, tossing orders around like she ran the place. When she saw me coming, she blinked — then broke into a slow, taunting smile. “Oh, Victoria! I didn’t expect to see you here. Didn’t Caleb tell you? He gave me this office.” Around us, employees stopped what they were doing, all ears. I said nothing. I walked straight up to her. Crack. I raised my hand and slapped her — hard. Every bit of strength I had behind it. Scarlett let out a sharp cry and hit the floor, one hand pressed to her cheek, staring up at me in disbelief. “You — you actually hit me?!” “Yeah, I hit you. What, did I need to make an appointment first?” I looked down at her, eyes cold as stone. “Scarlett, who exactly do you think you are? You slept your way into this company, and now you’re moving into my office?” “Victoria! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” The voice came from behind me. Caleb came storming over, shoved me aside, and reached down to pull Scarlett up off the floor. “Scarlett, are you okay?” Scarlett sank into him, tears already streaming down her face. “Caleb, I just wanted to help take some of the workload off you… Is Victoria trying to push me out? Does she just — can’t stand having me here?” Caleb looked at Scarlett’s red, swollen cheek, his face tight. Then he turned on me, eyes blazing. “Victoria, are you done?! Scarlett is the new Project Director — this office is hers. She earned it!” “Project Director?” I let out a cold laugh. “Caleb, have you completely lost your mind? She has a background in art. What does she know about project management? What is this company to you — a playground for your little affair?” “Frost Group is my company. I’ll appoint whoever I want as director!” Caleb shot back without mercy. “Is that so?” I met his gaze head-on, unwavering. “Caleb, don’t forget — I hold thirty percent of the shares. Without my signature, none of your major personnel appointments are valid.” Caleb’s expression shifted. It seemed like he’d only just remembered that I wasn’t just his wife. I was a shareholder who could stand against him at the board table. “Victoria, do you have to fight me on everything?” he said through gritted teeth, his voice low. “I’m not the one picking a fight. You pushed me here.” My voice was cold. “You have ten minutes to throw her things out. If you don’t, we’ll settle this at tomorrow’s board meeting.” With that, I pushed open the door, walked into the office, and shut it behind me. Hard. From the other side of the door came the sound of Caleb cursing in frustration — and Scarlett’s soft, aggrieved sobbing. I settled into the wide office chair, took in the familiar surroundings, and felt the corner of my mouth pull into a cool smile. This is only the beginning, Caleb. Every single thing you two owe me — I’m going to collect it back, with interest. Over the next few days, I moved through the company like a blade, restructuring personnel. Every person Caleb had promoted — all of Scarlett’s allies — were either demoted or let go. Caleb was so furious he smashed a glass in his office. But there was nothing he could do to stop me. Because every decision I made was fully compliant with the company’s bylaws. There wasn’t a single thing to challenge. As for Scarlett — she stopped provoking me so openly. She went quiet. More restrained. She leaned into the perfect victim act, spending her days finding new ways to bring Caleb homemade soups.
I knew she was speeding up the poisoning. But I didn’t stop her. What I wanted was to catch her in the act. Three days later, Jack’s report landed in my inbox. I opened the file — dozens of pages long — and with every page I turned, something cold settled deeper into my chest. The five years Scarlett spent abroad had nothing to do with studying art. She’d sunk into gambling. Racked up a mountain of debt to loan sharks. And gotten hooked on drugs. She came back home to find herself a cash cow. And Caleb was the target she’d chosen. But the part that hit me hardest was the last section of the report. Six months ago — the very night Scarlett came back — a hit-and-run had occurred. The victim was a sanitation worker. He didn’t survive. Jack had managed to track down deleted security footage from a stretch of road near the scene through various channels. The footage was blurry, but clear enough. The car that struck the man was Caleb’s black Maybach. And the person who stepped out of the driver’s side was Scarlett. She looked around in a panic. Then she walked to the passenger side, dragged an unconscious Caleb into the driver’s seat. After that, she called a cab and left. When I reached that part, the blood in my veins went still. What a setup. No wonder Caleb did everything she said. No wonder he turned so cold toward me so suddenly. Scarlett hadn’t just been controlling his body with poison. She’d been holding this death over his head like a knife — using that night to keep him completely in her grip. Caleb believed he’d killed someone drunk behind the wheel. And Scarlett had covered it up for him, made herself his only lifeline. Caught between fear and guilt, he had no choice but to let her pull his strings like a dog on a leash. I closed my laptop and leaned back in my chair, letting out a long, slow breath. Caleb. You were sharp your whole life, and you let one woman bring you down. You threw the wife who saved you under your feet for her. Are you satisfied now? Once I had the evidence, I didn’t move immediately to expose Scarlett. Because it still wasn’t enough. A hit-and-run charge would put her away for a few years at most. That was letting her off too easy. I wanted her — and Caleb — to feel what it was like to fall from the top of the world straight into hell. I began quietly selling off my shares in Frost Group, moving the funds into an offshore shell company I’d registered in advance. At the same time, I had Jack keep watching Scarlett — especially any contact between her and the mystery person supplying the poison. Sure enough, Jack soon confirmed that Scarlett had been meeting regularly with a black market doctor named Frank. The Ghost Poppy extract. Frank was her source. I went to see Frank myself. In front of one million dollars in cash and a recording of Frank practicing medicine without a license, he didn’t hesitate for a second. He sold Scarlett out without blinking. “Victoria, what do you need me to do?” Frank stared at the cash on the table, eyes practically glowing. “Keep supplying her,” I said coldly. “But increase the dosage. I want Caleb’s rejection response to hit early.” Since Caleb loved Scarlett’s soup so much, I’d make sure he got his fill. I wanted him to feel it firsthand — what it was like to be slowly poisoned, drop by drop, by the woman he loved most. Frank swallowed hard and nodded repeatedly. “Understood. Understood.” When I got home, Caleb was sitting in the living room — which was rare. His face was even paler than it had been a few days ago, his eyes shot through with red, his whole body radiating a restless, frantic energy. The moment he saw me walk in, he shot to his feet. “Victoria, what the hell are you trying to do? Why do you keep going after Scarlett at the company?” I slipped on my house shoes and glanced at him without much interest. “Going after her? Caleb, I think you’ve got it wrong. I’m just doing my job as a shareholder — cleaning out the dead weight.” “Bullshit!” Caleb roared. “You’re jealous! You’re jealous that I love her and not you!” I looked at his face — twisted with rage and the early signs of the toxin working through him — and felt nothing. “You’re right. I am jealous.” I stepped closer and looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m jealous that she got you to drink that poisoned soup without a second thought. I’m jealous that she has you so far gone you’d throw your own life away for her.” Caleb froze. His eyes shifted, just slightly. “What are you talking about? What poison?” “Deep down, you already know.” I let out a cold laugh. “Caleb — lately, have you been feeling it? Aching in your lower back, lying awake at night, maybe even seeing things that aren’t there?” Caleb’s pupils snapped tight. Sweat broke out across his forehead. “You… how do you know that?” “Because it’s what you deserve.” I leaned close to his ear and said it slowly, one word at a time. “Caleb, enjoy every bit of love Scarlett has to give. I promise — this is only the beginning.” Then I pushed past him and walked straight upstairs. Behind me, I heard him smashing things. I knew what that meant. The toxin had started to take hold.
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