For months, I had felt strange after dinner, but my husband always brushed it off, saying, “I’m just tired from work.” Last night, I finally hid the food he gave me and only pretended to swallow it. Seconds later, he let out a tense breath and made a phone call. I lay completely still, listening, and every word that came through shattered me: “She’s already dizzy. Was the last dose strong enough? When will I get the money?” I bit my lip until it bled. So the thing that started all of this… wasn’t love at all.

For months, I had felt strange after dinner, but my husband always brushed it off, saying, “I’m just tired from work.” Last night, I finally hid the food he gave me and only pretended to swallow it. Seconds later, he let out a tense breath and made a phone call. I lay completely still, listening, and every word that came through shattered me: “She’s already dizzy. Was the last dose strong enough? When will I get the money?” I bit my lip until it bled. So the thing that started all of this… wasn’t love at all.

For months, I told myself I was imagining things. The dizziness. The nausea. The headaches that always began exactly thirty minutes after dinner. My husband, Daniel, would place a gentle hand on my back and say the same soft line every time: “You’re just tired from work, sweetheart.” And like a fool desperate to believe in the man she married, I accepted it.

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