At last, one doctor asked hesitantly, “Mr. Burke, has your wife been exposed to any high–radiation areas recently? Her symptoms resembled those caused by exposure to radioactive substances.”
Frederick searched his memory. There was no way I could’ve been anywhere like that. After all, he had left me in the mountains for five months.
The realization hit like a punch to the gut, and his expression changed drastically.
The doctor saw it and understood. Once they identified the cause, they finally had a way forward.
With that, I was rushed into the emergency room.
Frederick waited outside, chain–smoking cigarette after cigarette. Throughout, Colette had called him multiple times, but he ignored every one of them.
Eventually, he opened WhatsApp and typed out a message to a contact. “Check out the mountain. Look into radiation.”
Five months earlier, he had watched me shove Colette out of a second–floor window. He had been furious. He thought I was too stubborn and needed to learn a lesson. So, he decided to leave me on a deserted island.
In fact, it was Colette who had made the suggestion. She told him about a barren mountain. It was vast, yet devoid of plants, wild animals, or even poisonous insects. She claimed it was the perfect place to teach me a harsh lesson.
Frederick had even gone to inspect it himself. Finding no obvious dangers, he left me there for five months.
Right then, the ER doors burst open. I was wheeled out, still unconscious,
The doctor confirmed that my body had been ravaged by radiation. Even the blood seeping from my skin was a result of the exposure.
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Chapter 7
+25 Bonus
Later, Frederick sat by my bedside. He looked down at me, fingers gently tracing my wedding ring.
That was when he noticed wounds he hadn’t seen before–a puncture through my right palm and cuts on my calf.
I had suffered so much in just five months because of him.
At that moment, Frederick’s phone buzzed, pulling him back to the present.
The person wrote, “Mr. Burke, that mountain used to be a chemical factory site. A few years back, there was a radiation leak, but the company covered it up.”
Another message popped up. “Also, it was owned by the Reeveses. Colette’s family.”
Frederick replied, “Got it.”
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