Chapter 3
This sick drama dragged on for a full two hours.
Richard pulled up his pants, looking completely satisfied as he lit a cigarette and flicked the ash straight onto the floor.
Linda was on her knees at his side like a loyal lapdog, fixing his belt buckle for him. "Richard, Henry's turning five next week. Aren't you going to do something for your godson?"
Richard blew out a smoke ring and pat Linda's cheek. "Relax, he'll get his.
"Come on, he's my kid. That quick wit? All from me, not like David, that blockhead."
Sitting in the car, my mind went numb, like someone had slammed a hammer right into my skull.
Even though I'd suspected it, hearing those words out loud made my chest tighten so much I could barely breathe.
I doted on Henry for five years. I hugged him every single day after work. He was that scumbag's kid.
"By the way, are you still giving him those pills?" Richard leaned in and spoke in a low voice.
Linda nodded, then dug out a small white bottle from the bottom drawer of the dresser. "I slip some into his milk every day. That fool still thinks it's calcium.
"The doctor said if he takes too much, it'll ruin his kidneys. In two years, he'll be a goner.
"Once he's dead, the house, the car, the insurance money, it's all ours."
Linda shook the bottle, her laughter wild and shaking her whole body. Her pretty face looked more twisted than a demon's.
I was cold all over, and cold sweat instantly soaked my back.
Come to think of it, my back had been aching nonstop lately. I went to the hospital, got checked out, but the doctors shrugged and said I was probably working too hard.
But now I knew the truth. It wasn't exhaustion. They had been poisoning me all along.
Richard stole my wife, my money, my son, and now they wanted me dead.
This wasn't just some affair. It was a calculated plan to bleed me dry and leave nothing but a corpse behind.
They wanted to devour me whole, not leaving a single bone behind.
Staring at those two scumbags on the screen, plotting their future, I felt a strange calm settle over me.
It was the kind of clarity a dying man gets in his final moments, a madness born from desperation.
Want me dead? Want to steal everything I own?
Dream on.
*****
After Richard left, I didn't rush back home.
I stayed in my car all night, not moving until the sun came up.
Early the next morning, while Linda was dropping Henry off at kindergarten, I snuck back into the house.
I swabbed Henry's toothbrush for a sample, then dug through the trash and found a tissue Richard had used.
While I was at it, I swiped that so-called "calcium supplement" bottle, leaving nothing but an empty container behind.
I headed straight to a private lab and got an expedited paternity test done.
Then I went to the hospital and had the pills tested to see what was inside.
It didn't take long for the results to come in.
Paternity test: Henry isn't my son.
The pills were packed with high-dose lead acetate, and taking them long enough would damage the kidneys.
The evidence was overwhelming.
I stared at the report in my hand, a cruel smile twisting my lips.
Since they showed no mercy, I would pay them back.
Three days later, it was Henry's fifth birthday party.
Linda, always wanting to show off, booked the city's best hotel and invited all our friends and relatives.
Richard, as the "VIP" and Henry's "godfather", was naturally going to be there.
That was the day I'd chosen.
I was going to drop a bombshell at that grand party, with all eyes on us. It was a gift they'd remember for the rest of their lives.