Chapter 2
The moment those words left his mouth, he was finished.
After their wife hurt someone, a normal person would have checked on the victim first.
But all Edwin cared about was whether he'd been poisoned.
He was the one who brought up that case from five years ago. A closed case of accidental death.
What was he so scared of? What was he hiding?
The cops weren't idiots.
The officer questioning me had his earpiece in, listening to what was going on next door. His look changed.
His eyes became probing and suspicious.
I set down my water glass and looked at him.
I said, "Officer, my husband's mental state has always been a bit unstable. Lately, he keeps rambling about someone trying to hurt him. He's been losing sleep over it.
"I keep telling him to see a doctor, but he keeps accusing me of cursing him.
"Today, he brought Lydia home and said he wanted a divorce. That might've been what set me off."
I took all the blame, playing the part of a miserable woman pushed to the edge by her husband.
The officer stared at me, his gaze conflicted.
He looked like he bought it, but not all the way.
The interrogation went on for a long time.
Finally, a man in a suit entered the room. It was Edwin's lawyer, Sean Webster.
Sean gave me a frosty stare.
He exchanged a few words with the officer, then took a seat across from me.
Sean said, "Ms. Lowe, Mr. Walton isn't going to press charges for allegedly poisoning him.
"If you cooperate with treatment, he's willing to settle out of court and offer you a hefty sum."
Sean's tone dripped with condescension.
I smiled. "I'm not sick, so why should I need treatment? As for compensation, half of everything Edwin owns is mine by right."
Sean's face darkened.
"Lenka, Lydia is seriously hurt. You're ruining your own future," he said.
"I said I'll plead guilty," I told him, spelling it out for him. "But I'm not crazy."
Neither of us was happy with how the conversation ended.
Not long after Sean left, the interrogating officer got a phone call.
He hung up, his eyes wide with shock and confusion as he stared at me.
Then he walked over and took off my handcuffs.
"You can go," he said.
I blinked in surprise. "Why?"
"The preliminary blood test results for Edwin Walton are in. No traces of poison were found," the officer said, his tone flat.
I walked out of the police station.
It was already dark outside.
Edwin was standing right by the streetlight outside the entrance.
He looked even more worn out and crazed than he had back at the villa.
As soon as I stepped out, Edwin stormed over and seized my arm.
"What did you do? Why isn't there any evidence?" he demanded.
His grip was so strong, his fingers dug painfully into my skin.
I didn't fight back. I just stared at him, calm and unflinching.
I replied, "What did I do? Didn't I already tell you?
"You're the one who's losing your mind. You're hallucinating. Edwin, you're sick."
"You're lying!" he roared, spittle flying as he shouted in my face. "You vicious bitch! Just like your sister!"
Hearing him mention Ellena made my heart clench.
But I kept smiling.
I said, "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. Before Ellena passed, she had some tests done at the hospital.
"The doctors said she was in good health, not a single trace of poisoning. But she died anyway. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
Edwin couldn't say a word, as if someone was choking him.
His glare was murderous, bloodshot eyes burning into me.
He stared at me, trying to catch me slipping, trying to see if I was bluffing.
But I didn't flinch. Every single word out of my mouth was the truth.
The poison was something I discovered in a forgotten medical tome.
It was crafted from more than a dozen rare herbs, painstakingly simmered for hours.
It left not a single trace in the bloodstream.
It would slowly rot your organs away until the victim's life was snuffed out.
It could take as little as six months or drag on for a whole year. No one could do anything about it.
"What do you want from me?" Edwin's voice was hoarse, tinged with a desperation he didn't even realize he was showing.
"What do I want?" I echoed.
I leaned in, whispering in a chilling voice, "I want you to feel every bit of the pain Ellena went through.
"I want you to slowly rot away, drowning in endless fear and despair."
Edwin was trembling from head to toe. He let go of me and staggered back a couple of steps.
A black car pulled up beside me, silent as a shadow.
The door opened, and I got in.
Right before the car door closed, I turned and looked back at him.
I said, "By the way, Edwin. Don't you want to read Ellena's diary?"
The car sped away, leaving Edwin far behind.
In the rearview mirror, I watched Edwin Walton chase after the car, wild and desperate.
But I knew he'd never catch up. Not in this lifetime.
I moved out of the villa.
I moved into an apartment I'd already prepared.
This place was safe. Edwin couldn't find me.
Over the next few days, Edwin went completely off the rails.
He scoured every place we might have gone, desperate to track me down.
He raised hell at my parents' house, then did the same at my friends' places.
He even offered a reward at his company to find out where I was hiding.