Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 165: King’s Misery

King

I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t my bed. It wasn’t my house, and I had a headache. Lying in bed was an excuse to obsess over everything I should have been doing. Over what Teela was doing right now with that asshole Alec. Lucky asshole.

He’d taken her to her hotel and stayed. She let him stay. Me Teela sent away, but Alec got to stay. What made him better than me? My net worth was greater. I’d known her first. It was me and my mother—no, Lettie wasn’t my mother—who had raised Teela from a scrawny kid who couldn’t do anything right into an efficient homemaker. She had given me her virginity and her young adult years.

I deserved Teela, not Alec. I tried to tell Teela that. The next thing I knew, I was taking DNA tests for three kids, none of which were mine, no matter what the test results said. I was careful. Always. The test results were probably manipulated by Teela or that piss-ant Stiff. Stiff hated me, too.

It seemed like everyone in Teela’s life hated me. Even Ben and Min. They were treating me like I was an idiot. I supported both for years. They should be on my side. Anyone with a brain should be on my side. My solutions were logical. Too many people acted on emotional impulses, which resulted in costly decisions that caused havoc.

I got out of bed and headed downstairs to Ben’s home gym, my shoes in my hand. I didn’t need Ben or Min waking up and giving me hell like they had earlier when I asked to run home for a few minutes. They accused me of wanting to pick up meds or harass Teela, but I swear I only wanted to grab some work items. Instead, they sent my idiot secretary to fetch them instead.

Like I didn’t have enough to deal with, I had to replace Min. He left me because he was in love. I was even aware that he had been interested in Ben for months. It had never stopped him from working for me before. What was different now? Marriage? It seemed he would need more money to support my brother than less, but no. He’s left me. I would have given him a raise instead if he’d given me the chance.

I put on my shoes in the gym and stretched before using the treadmill. I’d run these crazy thoughts out of my head. I liked focus. I always had focus before Teala left me. If it hadn’t been for her leaving me, I wouldn’t have tried the meds Dr. Pace recommended. They worked. In time. Sometimes, it took more doses than others, but the focus returned. It was not always on what I wanted to pay attention to, but I could focus.

Not like now.

Subconsciously, I patted my pocket, looking for another pill. Just one pill so I could let go of all these random thoughts. They really did help.

Surely Ben would let me go to my therapy appointment tomorrow. I could pick up another bottle tomorrow. Only I promised Teela I’d stop taking them.

She was being unreasonable. The meds helped me.

Now ,all I could do was sit it out. I bumped up the speed on the treadmill. This could take a while. It was still dark outside when my body gave out on me. I stumbled off the treadmill and dashed to the bathroom. After dumping my stomach content into the toilet, I wiped the sweat out of my eyes. My hands were shaking. I rested my back against the wall, my body running hot and cold.

A little while later, Min entered the bathroom. He wet a washcloth and passed it to me.

"You okay?" Min asked.

"Yes." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"I wanted to go back to bed, but I wasn’t sure I could get back on my feet, and I wasn’t about to ask Min to help me. Min was such a strong person. I wasn’t about to show him weakness.

"Are you sleeping here?"

I grunted and tried to stand. I was halfway up when Min reached out and helped. I didn’t say no.

"It’s withdrawal," Min quietly said. "I’ve seen it before. The next couple of days will be rough."

"I’m not addicted. I take care of my body."

Min paused at the bathroom mirror. "Tell your face."

The man in the mirror was sweat-drenched. His complexion was pasty with a blotchy red overlay. He was thinner than I remembered, as if all his muscle definition had melted away, and he looked older. Years older. How long had I been in this bathroom? Years?

But I wasn’t an addict. I didn’t shoot up or solicit from drug dealers. My medication was prescribed and non-addictive. I’d asked explicitly before I took the first pill. Besides, I was strong. I could quit at any time. I had total control over my life now that Lettie was gone. I wasn’t about to give it up.

A fresh wave of nausea assaulted me. I pushed away from Min and rushed back to the toilet. I couldn’t believe there was anything left to come up, and after a while, nothing did. Dry heaving was akin to trying to turn the entire body inside out. It should be categorized as a miserable way to commit suicide—death by puke.

Min put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on. I’ll take you to the hospital."

"No, I’ll be fine."

"Look at the toilet, King. There’s blood."

Min was right. A swirl of blood accented the cloudy bile floating in the water.

"Call Josh. Have him come here."

Ben poked his head into the bathroom. He had a cell phone pressed to his ear. "Josh is refusing to come."

I retched again, my chest heaving. "If he wants to continue to benefit from the Heavenly family name, he sure as hell will show up."

Josh was practically a stranger now that we had found out none of us were blood-related. He never came to the house for meals anymore. I’d overheard one of the maids saying he had a new woman in life. Good for him. She had to be a better match than Anya. Anyone was better than that vicious woman.

Ben disappeared again. Min helped me up and supported me as I returned upstairs to the bed. I was so cold. My entire body shook even after settling in under the thick comforter. Min brought an additional blanket and layered it over the comforter.

It didn’t help. Nothing helped. By the time Josh showed up, I was ready to take Min’s offer to take me to the hospital.

This was all Teela’s fault. She thought she knew what was good for me. How was this good for me? Death would be preferable to this misery.

"What have you been taking?" Josh asked.

"Prescription," I said through chattering teeth.

"Prescription drugs don’t do this to a person as long as they are taken as prescribed." Josh took my pulse and listened to my heart. He continued the checkup until he was finished and sat back on the chair by the bed.

It felt like the whole procedure had taken hours.

"What did you take?"

"Something my therapist gave me."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Give me the prescription bottle, King. I need to know the name of the medication before I can treat you."

Ben was standing by the bedroom door. "He doesn’t have any pills. We took them away from him. Here." Ben tossed Josh an empty bottle. "We flushed the drugs but kept the bottle."

Josh looked at the bottle. "I’m not familiar with this product. Let me look it up."

Ten minutes later, Josh was still frowning, and I still couldn’t warm up enough to sleep. The nausea was returning. Oh, god, no. I couldn’t puke again. If I threw up again, I’d rip my stomach out of my body.

I struggled to sit up and free myself from the covers.

"Lay down," Josh said as he put aside his phone and urged me back into bed.

"Sick. Bathroom."

Josh called out, "Ben, bring a bowel. Jump, man!"

He should have let me go to the bathroom. That’s all I’m going to say about the next few minutes. Letting me go would have saved Min from having to change my covers. Joshua’s shoes would still be pristine. My pride would have remained intact.

Josh pulled out a syringe and some magic elixir that immediately settled my stomach.

"He’s going to need an IV, guys. I should have him admitted to the hospital, but I came prepared." Josh tossed his car keys at Min. "Bring me the blue bag from the trunk."

Another injection and I didn’t care what happened for the next six hours. As a bonus factor, my brain shut off. For the first time in forever, I was truly unconscious and relaxed, as if nothing in the world could ever touch me again.