Inside the apartment.
Julian Campbell was jolted awake by the buzzing of his phone.
It rang over and over again.
For someone like Julian, this was almost impossible.
He was naturally sharp and an incredibly light sleeper, trained to notice any disturbance the second it happened.
There was no way his phone should have buzzed this many times before he finally reacted.
Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.
Julian sprang out of bed, startled.
He glanced at the caller ID, recognizing the digits for 911, and then realized the master bedroom was empty—Helena Wallace was gone.
All the color drained from Julian's face.
He knew instantly that something was terribly wrong.
Without a second thought, he answered the call.
"Hello, is this Mr. Campbell?" the officer's polite voice came through the line.
"Yes," Julian replied quickly.
"Your car was involved in a collision with a pedestrian at the airport, and Helena Wallace was behind the wheel." The officer gave him a brief rundown of the situation. "Please come to the hospital immediately. We are waiting for you here."
"I'm on my way." Julian hung up the phone without hesitation.
He didn't waste a single second, sprinting out the door and speeding toward the hospital.
He finally pieced together the events of the previous night.
Now he understood why Helena had suddenly asked for a late-night meal.
She hadn't had a proper appetite in weeks.
Forget late-night snacks; she barely ate a few bites during her regular meals.
She had lost a significant amount of weight.
Even the doctors were at a loss on how to help her regain her strength.
Everyone knew she needed to eat more to recover.
So her sudden request for food hadn't come out of nowhere.
She hadn't actually wanted to eat.
In fact, she had barely touched her plate.
Her real goal was to get him to eat.
She had hidden the sedatives in the pasta, masking them with the heavy seasoning of the food.
It was a flawless plan; Julian hadn't suspected a thing.
If she had slipped it into his water, milk, or coffee, he would have noticed the bitter taste immediately.
Her plan would have failed.
Helena knew Julian just as well as he knew her.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: He Never Loved Me Until the Day I Finally Left Him