His voice stayed calm, but his eyes sharpened. “You’ll feel better if you drink it. Trust me.”
For the first time, I saw something hard behind the gentleness — a shadow that had been there all along.
The Confrontation
Within a week, my accounts were transferred, the locks changed, and a safety deposit box opened in my name alone.
That night, I told Ethan the truth.
“The doctor tested your tea,” I said evenly. “It’s filled with sedatives.”
For a moment, he looked at me — not surprised, not afraid, but disappointed, as though I had ruined something delicate.
“You don’t understand, Lillian,” he said softly. “You think too much, worry too much. I just wanted to help you relax… to keep you calm.”
“By drugging me?” I asked.
He shrugged, as if I’d exaggerated. “You were happier that way.”
That was the last night he ever spent in my home.
