No Pills, No Dog, No Reason to Live

Zoe's POV

I held Teddy's body in my arms as overwhelming emotions crashed over me. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't even make a sound.

Mindy Quest looked disgusted. "Some people are just too dramatic. It's only a dog. Even without the poison, I would've had it put down anyway."

A flash of pity crossed Jayden Sherwell's eyes, and he stepped forward to help me out of habit.

"Get up. We can talk about this."

As he spoke, he turned and ordered, "Charmaine, take the dog out and throw it in the trash."

"Don't touch Teddy!" I screamed with all my might.

I held Teddy's body even tighter as the voices around me slowly became muffled and distant.

The emotional support dog was the pet my mom left me before she died. Whenever my physical symptoms acted up, Teddy would nuzzle me with its wet nose. That was what helped me hold on until now.

After Dad cheated on Mom and left, Mom and I only had each other.

Mom developed severe depression and killed herself by slashing her wrists in our bathtub. Bright red blood spilled over the edge of the bathtub and spread across the floor to my feet.

The trauma left me depressed, and Jayden immediately decided to marry me.

"I'll never leave you. I'll stay by your side until the day you recover," he had said.

The gentle face of Jayden I once knew no longer seemed to belong to the indifferent man standing before me.

Jayden watched me lose control, and suddenly, there was nothing but exhaustion in his eyes.

"Can you stop this? Mindy is only trying to help you," he said. "You can't depend on a dog to keep you alive forever. Teddy was going to die someday. Sooner or later, you have to face it."

I stared at Jayden.

It felt like an enormous weight was pressing down on my chest, leaving me struggling to breathe. But I couldn't die yet.

"Give me my medication back. Please…" I pleaded.

Jayden slipped his hand into his pocket.

When Mindy heard the pill bottle rattle, she stopped him. "If you keep indulging her like this, she'll always be this dramatic. Don't you know you're hurting her?"

He hesitated for a moment but still didn't hand me the pill bottle.

"Zoe, you need to understand that I'm doing this for your own good. If I help you move past this sooner, you won't have to keep suffering."

After saying that, Jayden locked the door again.

He took Teddy's body with him and told Charmaine Blitz, the housekeeper, in a low voice, "Just burn the dog. Don't let Zoe see it again."

The moment the door clicked shut, I completely lost the strength to fight.

I swallowed the sleeping pills left in my pocket, one after another.