My Mother-in-law Tried To Poison My Chowder. I’m A Pharmacist, So I Knew Exactly What She Added. I Sent The “gift” To My Cheating Husband Instead.

A New Dawn

My phone rang.

It was my dad.

The hospital must have contacted him.

“Laura, are you okay?”

His voice was thick with worry.

I took a deep breath.

“I’m okay, Dad, but I need you to come here,”.

“I’m on my way,”.

I hung up and looked at the white ceiling.

I knew that from tomorrow on I would have to face the law, public opinion, both families, and the vicious whispers.

But at least I was no longer living in the darkness of deceit.

That night, I left the hospital as the sky began to brighten.

The first weak rays of dawn hit the steps, blinding me for a moment.

I stepped outside and took a breath of fresh air.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt truly alive.

But I knew this was just the beginning.

The morning my father arrived at the hospital, the sun was fully up, casting a pale, gentle yellow light through the trees, a stark contrast to the night’s events.

I stood up as I saw his familiar figure from a distance, his back slightly stooped, his steps hurried yet heavy.

He looked at me for a long time without asking anything, just placing a hand on my shoulder.

It was the familiar touch of a father who had carried me through countless storms.

“You’ve gotten thinner,” he said, his voice so soft it felt like he was afraid I might shatter.

I managed a dry smile.

“I’m okay, Dad,”.

He didn’t press.

He knew me well enough to know that some things, if spoken aloud now, would only bring more pain.

We sat together on a stone bench outside the ER, watching people come and go, each carrying their own private sorrow.

I told him everything: from the strange powder to the phone call, to Betty’s confession.

He listened without interruption, only tightening his grip on my hand from time to time.

When I told him how Nathan had given the drug to his own mother to harm me, my father closed his eyes for a long moment.

“I used to think that boy was a good man,” he said slowly.

“Turns out he was good to the world but cruel to the one who shared his bed,”.

I didn’t defend Nathan, nor did I add to the blame.

I just felt my heart settle like water after a flood: exhausted but clear.

That afternoon, the police contacted me and asked me to come to the station to give a formal statement.

My dad came with me.

In the car he didn’t say much, only one piece of advice: “Tell the truth. Leave the rest to the law,”.

At the station, I met Detective Miller again.

He asked me to clarify a few details, cross-referencing them with my statement from the night before.

Then he informed me of the preliminary findings.

The substance in the chowder was a powerful antibiotic that, when combined with alcohol, could cause severe anaphylactic shock.

The camera footage from my apartment had been retrieved, and the delivery driver had also been brought in for questioning.

All the pieces were fitting together with cold, unerring precision.

“Laura,” Detective Miller said, his tone serious but not harsh.

“In this case, you are the victim of an attempted murder, but you need to be prepared for your husband’s family to react,”.

I nodded.

“I’ve been prepared since I smelled that powder,”.