No Cure for What She Broke

To get back at me for taking one extra piece of lettuce at dinner, Simon Quinn drugged me right after my surgery and left me with a stomach perforation. My wife finally managed to book a specialist appointment for me, but Simon suddenly claimed his own stomach hurt so badly he couldn't stand it and stole my slot. I begged my wife to take me to the hospital first. She told me to endure it. Then, when I called an ambulance myself, she punished me by having someone hang me upside down in the bedroom. "If we hadn't had to eat those awful health meals with you, why would Simon's stomach hurt? "I heard hanging upside down helps stomach pain. After a few minutes, you'll naturally feel better." The pain made my body convulse. I cried and begged her to send me to the hospital. Instead, she kicked me hard in the abdomen. "Stop acting. Don't think I don't know you're just jealous of Simon! "Someone as kind as Simon would never drug you. If anything, you're the one who might've slipped something into the food to make his stomach hurt. Once the results come out, I won't let you off!" I grabbed her pant leg in agony. "I'm not lying. He told me himself he drugged me. Please, for the sake of our eight years together, give the specialist appointment back to me." She stepped on my hand in disgust. "You just had surgery. How could anything happen to you? Stop trying to drive a wedge between us. If you weren't such good househusband material, I would've divorced you long ago." Later, after she saw that Simon was perfectly fine, she finally remembered me. But the housekeeper was trembling all over. "Mr. Bowman died a long time ago..." Chapter 1 Caleb's POV Bile mixed with blood flooded into my nose. My breathing grew more and more difficult as I coughed mouthfuls of blood. I tried to struggle down, but the ropes around my wrists only tightened. It felt like my bones were about to snap. The crashing sound drew the housekeeper over. Mrs. Ward strolled in, cracking sunflower seeds, and looked at the filthy mess on the floor with disgust. "Honestly, Ms. Warren isn't even home. Who are you putting on this show for? "Even if you died here today, no one would care. Ms. Warren specifically sent me to watch you. Every day, all you know how to do is compete with Mr. Quinn for attention. Have you ever looked at yourself and realized what you're worth?" After saying that, she covered her nose and backed away. I suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood onto her. My consciousness was fading. Instinctively, I begged, "Mrs. Ward, take me to the hospital..." She shrieked, punched me several times, then called Felicity Warren. Felicity had just arranged for Simon Quinn to be admitted to the emergency department. When she picked up, her voice was full of impatience. "Hospital? He just wants to steal Simon's doctor! If he takes Simon's specialist appointment today, don't even think about getting paid this year." Mrs. Ward raised her eyebrows at me triumphantly. As if to destroy the last bit of hope in me, she added, "But Mr. Bowman is vomiting blood." I coughed again. My painful groan made Felicity hesitate. "Take him down first. I..." Felicity was still choosing her words when a wounded male voice interrupted her. "Felicity, I think my stomach doesn't hurt anymore. "Gastroenteritis is like that. It hurts one moment and stops the next. Even vomiting blood can be a minor issue. Didn't the doctor just say I'm fine?" He had no stomach illness at all. I was the one who had ruined my stomach by drinking myself half to death at Felicity's business dinners. Now I had just come out of surgery, and he had drugged me with something vicious. How could I possibly be fine? Felicity believed his nonsense and snapped coldly again. "Hospital, my ass. Watch him. Until I get back, no one is allowed to touch him. He's always trying to compete with Simon. It's disgusting." Felicity hung up. Mrs. Ward looked at me with gloating delight. "See? I told you Ms. Warren only has Mr. Quinn in her heart. Why would she care whether you live or die?" The next second, she glanced at a message on her phone and smiled with malicious pleasure. "Mr. Quinn is so kind. He was afraid you'd be lonely by yourself, so he specifically told me to bring his favorite pet over to play with you." Chapter 2 The moment I saw that pet, my vision nearly went black. It was a venomous black widow spider. I watched helplessly as the enormous spider crawled out of the box. Before I could even beg, Mrs. Ward had already fled. Drawn by the smell of blood, the spider leaped toward me. I wanted to dodge, but my hands were bound, and the violent pain left me unable to move. It crawled up my face along the blood. Goose bumps rose all over my body. I could no longer care about pain or fear. All I wanted was for it to die. It seemed to sense my intent and suddenly jumped onto my abdomen. Dense, needling pain washed over me. I screamed horribly. The ropes snapped. I fell to the floor and had no strength left. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. It felt as if I could see death beckoning to me. Mrs. Ward suddenly appeared again, cursing under her breath. When she saw I wasn't moving, she seemed a little panicked. She slapped me hard several times before I jolted back to awareness. With my last breath, I begged her to take me to the hospital. "A venomous spider bit me. I'm going to die." She released my hair at once, then shoved my face hard against the floor. "So you really are a liar! I thought you were actually dead." Under my unwilling stare, her expression gradually became excited. "You dead thing. A man, and you still love fighting for attention. You know Ms. Warren likes Mr. Quinn, but you keep shamelessly trying to climb up by acting pitiful. I've hated you for ages. Look at your disgusting state. Ms. Warren would never want you." Only after scolding me did she finally remember the spider. "Where did Mr. Quinn's precious pet go? Hand it over." She searched around and did not see it. Out of fear, she stayed at least a yard away from me. She mistook the black clump of blood on the floor for the spider's corpse. Furious, she kicked me in the stomach. "Tired of living, aren't you? You actually killed Mr. Quinn's favorite pet. How can your heart be so vicious? "No wonder Ms. Warren doesn't like you. Stay here and be buried with Mr. Quinn's pet." She made a phone call and kept saying yes. Before she left, she turned the air conditioner down to its lowest temperature. "Mr. Quinn specifically said his pet likes damp, cold environments. Enjoy it together." I trembled from the cold. The agony in my abdomen almost made me lose consciousness. It seemed as if I heard Felicity calling my name gently. But I no longer even had the strength to lift a hand. She was clearly the one who had confessed first and said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me. She had once truly cooked three meals a day for me. The ordinary happiness I had imagined countless times had once been so close. So why had it ended like this? The final tear slid from the corner of my eye. I could clearly feel my heartbeat weakening bit by bit. Yet the door opened once more. The person who came in was startled by the sight of me lying in a pool of blood. I instinctively made a sound, begging him for help. He quickly stepped back, his face full of reluctance. "I... I'm just a delivery runner. Ms. Warren told me to come make sure Caleb cooks for Mr. Quinn. Don't make this hard for me." My already numb heart hurt all over again. My wife refused to believe her own husband had a stomach bleed, yet she wanted me to cook for the mistress who had stolen my specialist appointment. Even in an outsider's eyes, our roles had been swapped. How ironic. I told him weakly, "I'm Caleb Bowman. Please take me to the hospital." He stared at me in terror for several seconds, then finally chose to make a phone call. "Ms. Warren, I'm at your house right now, but the Caleb you mentioned is covered in blood. He looks like he's about to die. Should I take him to the hospital?" Felicity laughed coldly. "He's really good at acting. He doesn't want to cook for Simon, so now he's making up all these excuses." Her tone gradually became firm. Chapter 3 "Don't take him to the hospital. That's fake blood on him. Tell him that if he wants my forgiveness, he needs to start cooking right now. Otherwise, I won't come home today." The runner wanted to explain again, but the call was cut off without mercy. He crouched in front of me and confirmed that the blood on the floor had come from my mouth. His brows twisted together. After a long mental struggle, he untied me. "I don't know how you made Ms. Warren so angry, but this isn't right. I can't just watch someone die." After saying that, he called an ambulance for me. Before the heart I had been holding up could settle, the doctor's words shoved it back into my throat. If I did not receive antivenom within ten minutes, I would definitely die. But this particular antivenom was rare in the country. Getting it transferred from anywhere else was unrealistic. After entering my identity information, the doctor suddenly brightened. "You're Ms. Warren's husband? Then this is easy. Her private hospital must have some." He immediately called Felicity. "Ms. Warren, your husband was bitten by a black widow spider. His condition is critical. Your hospital should still have the batch of antivenom imported last year, right?" Felicity flew into a rage. "Caleb, are you sick? What black widow spider? Simon's spider is harmless. Not only did you cruelly kill his pet, now you've hired people to lie with you?" I shook my head in agony. The reason her private hospital had antivenom was that Simon had been bitten before. Felicity had been heartbroken for him then, but she did not know Simon had raised venomous spiders for the purpose of hurting me. The doctor defended me. "Ms. Warren, we really are doctors. Your husband really is poisoned. If he doesn't get antivenom within ten minutes, he'll die." "Then let him die. He screams about stomach pain in front of me every day and isn't he still alive? All he knows how to do is be dramatic. I know my own husband better than anyone. Stop coming out to disgust people." Felicity hung up impatiently. On the other end, Simon was calling weakly for her to buy him cake. The doctor looked at me with pity and decided to take me to the hospital anyway. "Let's take him to Ms. Warren's private hospital. The doctors there can't possibly refuse to save him, right?" But I never expected Felicity to make the hospital refuse any patient with stomach problems just to keep Simon happy. The ambulance stopped awkwardly outside. No matter what, they would not let us in. Felicity, who had bought the cake, was on a call. "Yes. Simon likes quiet. No matter who offers how much money, don't accept them." I lay on the stretcher like a fish waiting to be gutted and suddenly met her driver's eyes. The driver looked again uncertainly. I no longer had the strength to speak. He chased after her and pointed at me. "Ms. Warren, that patient who was just brought here looks like your husband." Felicity turned back and saw a face stained with blood. She immediately looked away in disgust. "He isn't capable enough to make it here." The driver carefully advised her. "Even if it isn't him, he's pitiful. Maybe we should admit him." Felicity glared fiercely at the driver. "Do you want to keep your job? What man matters more than Simon's happiness? Even if it really is Caleb, he deserves it." Her last look at me was like she was looking at a dying stranger, without the slightest attachment. Then she turned and sent Simon a gentle voice message. "Simon, I bought your favorite cake. I'll be there soon." The last trace of hope in my heart was completely buried. Even at the hospital entrance, Felicity still cut off my chance to survive. But I wasn't willing to die. I borrowed the doctor's phone and dialed the number I had never dared to call.