When I came to, Lindsay was hovering over me, her face etched with worry.

"You scared the life out of me! Why did you faint? If I hadn't noticed you were off yesterday, you might've been sprawled on the floor all day! Come on, we're going to the hospital."

She tugged at my arm, trying to pull me up, but I just stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Lindsay, I think Erich is cheating on me…"

Under her relentless questioning, I spilled everything that had happened.

Lindsay's expression turned incredulous. "You didn't even see him in a hotel or anything. How can you jump to that conclusion? You're just scaring yourself!"

But I knew something was shifting beneath the surface.

I blinked back tears, trying to hold it together.

"After all these years together, are you really going to throw it all away over this one incident? You need to calm down and hear Erich out."

She has a point.

Ten years together should mean something. Maybe I should trust him more.

With Lindsay by my side, I rested for the morning. By noon, I decided to make Erich's favorite food and took it to his office.

I sometimes dropped by to check on him, and the receptionist greeted me like it was just another day.

I put on my best "CEO's wife" smile, waving at every employee I passed, but my smile froze when I reached the door to his office.

The girl I had seen with Erich at the restaurant was standing beside his desk, arranging dishes in front of him.

Our eyes met, and Erich's expression was disturbingly calm, devoid of any surprise or panic.

The girl looked up and smiled when she saw me. "This is…"

Erich glanced at her, his voice softening. "My wife."

Her face blanched, and she stammered a quick greeting before hurrying out.

I had to admit she was a striking beauty with an exotic allure. It was no wonder Erich might be tempted.

A heaviness settled in my chest, and my hands trembled as I clutched the warm food container.

But as Erich noticed the box, his demeanor softened. He stepped forward, taking it from my hands and then grasping mine. "Your hands are freezing! Are you feeling alright?"

I shook my head, trying to brush it off.

"Hey, babe, let me explain. Yesterday was just a team-building event. It hurts me that you'd misunderstand like this. Please don't be mad."

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling out a beautiful necklace from his pocket. "This is your anniversary gift. Let me make it up to you today, okay?"

My heart warmed a little, and I hesitated before accepting the necklace.

Maybe I have misjudged him…

That evening, Erich set up a romantic candlelit dinner. The soft glow highlighted his features, making him look exceptionally gentle.

I couldn't help myself; I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him. The morning's uncertainty had left me feeling terrified of losing him, and all I wanted was to hold on tight.

With a playful grin, Erich lifted me effortlessly, striding toward the bedroom.

I let him take the lead as always, but just as we reached the crucial moment, I felt him tense up.

He suddenly rolled off me and hunched over the edge of the bed, gagging.

My heart raced, and I jumped off the bed, flipping on the light.

Erich's face twisted in agony as he looked at me, and my stomach dropped when I saw the blood pooling on the floor.

I called the doctor, my heart pounding with worry.

After a long night filled with tests and examinations, the results came back: Erich was perfectly fine.

After everything that had happened, I found it hard to focus on anything else.

Seven years of love and three years of marriage made me prioritize his well-being above all those whispers of infidelity.

Still uneasy, I decided to take him to a larger hospital for a second opinion.

Once again, the results showed he had no health issues at all—if anything, he was in great shape.

Sensing my anxiety, the doctor explained, "It could just be something he ate that didn't sit well."

Determined to take care of him, I prepared a nutritious lunch to bring to his office.

Normally, I would send the driver, but this time, I wanted to surprise him.

Yet, I couldn't shake the nagging doubts that still lingered in my mind.

Standing outside his office, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

No answer. He wasn't there.

My heart sank.

"Mrs. Kastner?"

The girl from before stepped out of the break room, carrying freshly changed bed linens and flashing me a sweet smile.

Seeing the food container in my hands, she raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Kastner went out for lunch. Why not give him a call?"

But he usually ate in the office, and today's schedule didn't show any lunch meetings with clients…

A chill ran through me. How could he be so brazen? And how dare she flaunt her presence in front of me like this?

I pushed past her and swung open the break room door.

I searched everywhere, including the cabinets, the bed, and the changing area. Erich was nowhere to be found.

My trembling body finally found some calm as I leaned against the wall, feeling utterly defeated.

The girl looked puzzled but smiled as she left. "Well, I'll just take these linens to the dry cleaners."

Her feigned innocence was sickening!

I scoffed internally, thinking she believed I hadn't caught on to anything.

If Erich wasn't in the office for lunch, he wouldn't be in the break room either, so why would there be any need for fresh linens?

Once my thoughts settled, I called Erich.

As expected, I heard the dreaded message. "The number you dialed is currently busy…"

Despair washed over me. Is there even a point in continuing this marriage? No matter how much I loved him, I didn't want to lose myself in the process.

Just then, my phone rang, sending my heart racing. I felt alive again.

But the caller wasn't Erich; it was Lindsay.

"Hey?"

"Alice, something's happened to your husband!"

I rushed to the hospital, finding Lindsay anxiously waiting on a bench in the emergency room.

"What happened?"

She looked disheveled, water still dripping from her hair, but she managed to pull herself together when she saw me.

"Alice, your husband scared the daylights out of me! We were on the phone, and suddenly he just went silent. If it weren't for a passerby noticing something was off and calling me, it could've been a disaster…"

"How is he? Did he throw up blood again?"

Panic surged through me as I struggled to breathe.

"Yes, he lost a lot of blood…"

After what felt like an eternity, we were finally told that Erich had regained consciousness and was physically fine.

"How can that be? Doctor, no one just throws up blood for no reason!"

The doctor, holding the test results, looked conflicted.

"I can assure you, the patient is fine. His lungs and gastrointestinal tract are healthy, and we've ruled out any foreign objects. It might be related to psychological factors…"

Upon hearing the news, Erich's parents were beside themselves with worry. They urged us to go back to the Kastner Manor for a few days, bringing in top-notch nutritionists and doctors to keep an eye on him.

While I wasn't thrilled about spending time with them, I tolerated it for Erich's sake.

But for some reason, Erich's demeanor had turned icy again.

His parents, fueled by their distress over his vomiting blood, directed their anger at me, accusing me of being the source of Erich's mental struggles.

They took on the role of concerned guardians, chastising me relentlessly.

"Erich, can you at least say a few words in my defense?" I pleaded at dinner, only to be met with more barbs from my mother-in-law.

Once I got back to our room, I couldn't hold back my frustration any longer.

"Erich, come on, can you at least defend for a second?"

But he was lost in his phone, chatting away, barely lifting his head.

"Just ignore what Mom says. Humor her," he replied dismissively.

I struggled to grasp why his attitude flipped like a switch.

Watching him smile while texting someone else disappointed me.

"Erich, just be honest with me. Do you have feelings for someone else?"

His smile faded at that question.

"Can you stop jumping to conclusions? You're always suspicious—if you keep this up, I might just look for someone else!"

I let out a bitter laugh, feeling sickened by his attempt to deflect responsibility.

I'd always taken pride in having such a wonderful partner, but now I realized he was just like every other man who couldn't own up to his faults.

"You're honestly making me sick!"

With those words, I turned and stormed out of the room.

The house felt stifling, and I was overwhelmed with pent-up emotions as I made my way outside. But halfway down the staircase, I heard footsteps behind me.

When I turned around, I was shoved hard.

He tried to kill me.