I left my wife outside in the freezing cold because my sister yelled, “That woman is using you”; when I opened the balcony door I found a fingerprint, a cigarette butt and an unfinished letter, but what destroyed me the most was knowing who those $8,000 were really for.

PART 2

Liam went down the stairs barefoot, stumbling on the steps, while Gwen shouted his name from above. Outside, several neighbors had already gathered by the tree.

A woman covered her mouth. A young man held his cell phone with a trembling hand.

As he approached, Liam recognized Nora’s white nightgown. But when he knelt down, he discovered something he hadn’t expected.

Nora was alive. She was barely breathing, her lips were purple, and she had one hand closed over a crumpled piece of paper.

“Call an ambulance!” Liam shouted, feeling his voice crack.

At the Community Hospital of Flint, doctors admitted her to intensive care. Liam spent hours in a white hallway, smelling chlorine, cold sweat, and fear.

When the doctor came out, her face did not bring relief. “We managed to stabilize her,” the doctor said, “but your wife arrived with severe poisoning.”

Liam put his hands to his head. “Poisoning? Why? What happened?”