Tahlia's Poisoned Gift

Kael's POV

My heart was still hammering against my ribs, but my face remained calm and cold as stone.

The traitor who had destroyed my family was inside Vance Enterprises. That meant my time in this house was no longer just about waiting out a contract it was about survival.

By ten the next morning, the heavy morning mist had settled over the lake outside the Vance estate. Banjo had left at dawn, rushing to the corporate headquarters to manage the chaotic financial freeze my people had triggered. The vast mansion was dead silent, expect for the quiet ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer.

I was sitting in the dining hall, drinking coffee, when the front door opened.

Light, delicate footsteps sounded on the p marble floors. A moment later, Tahlia stepped into the room.

She looked soft and innocent as always, her honey blonde hair styled in loose, effortless waves. She held a small, beautifully wrapped gold box tied with a silk ribbon. Her doe like eyes scanned me, carrying that familiar, fragile softness that had fooled Banjo for years.

"Merinda," she murmured softly, her voice carrying a gentle, hesitant rhythm. "I hope I would catch you before the evening dinner."

I didn't stand up. I didn't even set my coffee cup down. "What are you doing here, Tahlia? Banjo isn't home."

"I know," she whispered, taking a slow, careful step into the room. She looked down at the floor, squeezing the gold box in her small hands as if she were a timid child trying to make amends. "I came to see you. After what happened at the gala I felt so terrible. Banjo was so harsh with you, and I couldn't sleep thinking that I caused a rift between you two."

The sheer audacity of her words tasted, I watched her, my eyes narrowing slightly. "You fainted, Tahlia. You told him I threatened you."

"I was confused!" she cried out softly, a shining tear spilling over her lower lash. "The room was spinning, Merinda. I was terrified. But I know how much you suffer in silence here. I truly want us to be friends. Banjo cares about us both so much."

She walked over to my table, placing the small gold box right beside my coffee cup.

"It's an imported Swiss botanical night cream," Tahlia said, her voice dropping into a sweet, affectionate tone. "Custom made by a private laboratory in St. Moritz. It does wonders for stress and skin fatigue. Tonight is the private dinner with the European diplomatic envoy Banjo’s board expects you to look your best, please take it as my peace offering."

I looked at the gold box, then back up at her pale, innocent face.

I knew Tahlia hated me. I knew every breath she took around Banjo was calculated to push me further into the dark. But looking at the delicate glass jar inside the box, a strange, quiet thought crossed my mind. If I publicly rejected her gift, she would run straight back to Banjo, sobbing that his cruel wife threw her olive branch in her face.

"Leave it," I said flatly.

Tahlia gave me a brilliant, tearful smile, as if I had just granted her a grand mercy. "Thank you, Merinda. You'll see tonight will be a fresh start for all of us."

She turned and left the room, her signature rose perfume lingering in the air long after her footsteps vanished down the driveway.

By six in the evening, the sun had dipped below the mountains, painting the Zurich sky in shades of bruised purple.

I stood in front of the vanity mirror in my dressing room. The diplomatic dinner was set for seven thirty at the estate. I had applied a small dab of the cream Tahlia gave me to my neck and cheeks twenty minutes ago, purely to keep up appearances in case she asked Banjo if I had used it.

The cream had smelled faintly of lavender and sweet almond.

Then, the burning started.

It began as a prickling warmth beneath my jaw within five minutes, the warmth turned into a sharp piercing fire.

I gasped, gripping the edge of the vanity as my breath caught in my throat. I looked up into the mirror, and horror gripped my chest.

Red, inflamed welts were rapidly blooming across my neck, spreading up toward my jawline and down onto my collarbone. My skin swelled, turning a furious red. My throat began to feel tight, my lungs struggling to pull in a full breath.

A severe allergen.

I had a rare, dangerous sensitivity to concentrated almond extract a medical detail buried deep in my private health files, files that were kept in the estate’s secondary administrative server.

Tahlia hadn't brought a peace offering. She had brought a targeted chemical strike. She knew I had to sit beside the European diplomats tonight. She wanted me disfigured, breathless, and humiliated before the world.

I stumbled toward the bathroom sink, turning on the cold water frantically. I splashed my face, scrubbing at my neck with a damp towel, but the reaction was already in my bloodstream. The burning was unbearable. My vision blurred as I gasped for air, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

Click.

The door of the dressing room swung open. Banjo walked in, unbuttoning his dark suit jacket. He looked exhausted, his rugged jaw shadowed by his eyes heavy from the brutal day at the corporate office.

"Merinda, the diplomats' cars are pulling up the driveway," he began, his voice flat. "We need to go down"

He stopped dead in his tracks.

His eyes locked onto my face my swollen, patchy skin, the bright red swollen marks covering my neck, and the damp, ruined towel clutched in my trembling hand. On the vanity right beside me sat the open jar of cream, its gold lid resting near a handwritten card signed by Tahlia.

Banjo’s brow furrowed, his eyes darkening with a sudden, dangerous confusion as he stepped into the room.

"What happened to your face?" he demanded, his voice dropping into a harsh tone.

"Tahlia" I choked out, my voice raspy and thin as my throat tightened further. "She brought this cream this morning it has almond extract"

Banjo took two heavy steps forward, picking up the open jar. He looked at the label, then looked at the handwritten card, and then back at my disfigured, suffering face.

Instead of panic and worry, a cold, annoyed, terrifying sneer twisted across his face.

"You are truly incredible, Merinda," Banjo said, his voice dripping with pure, unadulterated disgust. "Tahlia came here out of the goodness of her heart to give you a luxury gift, and you deliberately poured concentrated extract on yourself just to frame her?”