Billionaire's Second Chance Romance

"Martha! Oh my gosh!" My mother-in-law screamed looking at her daughter who was throwing up blood. "Call 911!" She exclaimed.

With shaky fingers, I rushed to the phone and dialed the emergency number. However, Martha was already being carried to the car by her brother Jude who happened to be my husband.

We all piled ourselves into the car and reached the hospital in less than fifteen minutes where the nurses quickly put her on a stretcher and took her to the emergency ward.

In the hospital lobby where we stood, my mother-in-law gave me a resounding slap. "How dare you try to poison my daughter?" She screeched.

"I swear, I did not try to. I have no idea why she was throwing up blood after drinking the tea."

I shot Jude, my husband, a pleading look but he ignored me and went to stand beside Martha's best friend, Josephine with whom he was openly having an affair.

"I saw you," Josephine said. "Stop lying. You put some powder in her tea and when I saw you earlier in the kitchen you told me it was flavoring."

I gasped as I stared at her, realizing that she was behind it all. Earlier on, I had been making tea for breakfast and she had given me a sachet with a white powdery substance and asked me to add it to her tea. Since she and Martha used similar cups, I'm sure she must have swapped it just so that I would be a bad person.

"Is this true?" Jude walked towards me with red eyes. I could see the fumes of anger emanating from his body. He placed a firm hand on my shoulder and bored his eyes into mine.

"It's not true, I—"

Jude's eyes dropped to his hands that rested on my shoulder. He removed it as though it was a hot flame and brought out a sanitizer from his pocket, using it to cleanse his hands as if disgusted by me.

Tears slid down my face as I watched him walk away. My mother-in-law began to throw every shade of insults at me but I could not hear exactly what she was saying.

Since my husband and I got married four years ago, he has never been intimate with me.

Jude and I got involved in a drunken one-night stand but even after that, we were still friendly with each other. I was going through the worst time of my life in the orphanage. I don't remember much from when I was younger, but I started living in the orphanage at the age of eight. I was sixteen when I met Jude and still at the orphanage. No one had ever wanted to adopt me. I was unloved by the world and severely depressed. A lot of people bullied me and took away my food so I starved most times. He didn't know this part of my life but was extremely nice and sweet to me. Later on, he found out I was an orphan and often brought me food. We would keep each other company till late at night when we had to say our goodbyes.

After high school, I wasn't privileged to go to college like him. I had to leave the orphanage. I worked my butt off most time but that did not change our relationship. We had sex the second time one day he visited my tiny apartment and then we were in an off-and-on romantic relationship.

Everything went downhill when I found out I was pregnant. He asked me to abort the baby because his family would never accept it but somehow, his father had found out and had said he had to marry me. I began living in their house since then. The marriage happened a month later and the day after that, I lost my baby. His father did not allow me to leave even after that, he said that we were married and that was final.

Jude's father was very patriarchal in nature.

It was when I started living in their house that I discovered that he was in a romantic relationship with his sister's best friend. He did not care that we were married anymore and he ignored me most of the time. He did not even sleep in the same room with me and avoided any form of physical contact. It was only when his father was around us, that he was nice and caring.

A few weeks later, his father died and the whole household turned their backs on me. I was like a maid in their house and constantly mistreated by everyone. They said the most hurtful words to me and kept reminding me that I had trapped Jude into a marriage with me.

Most nights, I cried myself to sleep and wished I never met Jude and fell in love. All his kindness and generosity had been fake and it hurt me deeply.

"You're such an ungrateful bitch!" My mother-in-law, Rebecca was still yelling at me. "After taking you in and giving you the best of life and everything! We provided for you and this is how you repay us?"

"I swear I didn't try to poison her! I added the powder to her tea because I thought it was flavoring. Josephine asked—"

"Oh my gosh!" Josephine gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. "She just admitted to it. She's such a liar. At first, she said she didn't have an idea of what we were talking about, and now she's saying a different thing."

"I'm not guilty of this!" I cried out angrily. "I didn't try to poison her. Josephine was the one who asked me to put it in a drink for her and then she swapped the cups."

Josephine gasped, "Rebecca she is accusing me only because I exposed her." Tears began to form in her eyes. "You know what?" She said, "It is all my fault. How I wish I had known it was poison, I would have stopped her.”

I stared at Josephine with wide eyes. That cunning bitch was trying to play the victim to get everyone to sympathize with her.

"Oh Josephine dear, it's not your fault," Rebecca said, pulling her into a hug. "I know it's devastating since Martha is your best friend but I'm sure she'll be alright."

"I feel so guilty!" She continued to sob.

With tears in my eyes, I stormed towards the exit of the hospital. I was not interested in their sentimental bullshit and fake tears. Jude was standing outside the lobby, smoking a cigarette. I watched him for a while as the smoke curled out of his mouth.

"What is it?" He asked, his eyes finally settling on me. I swallowed hard and looked at my feet first before looking back up at him.

"You know it's not true."

He said nothing and ran his hand through his hair. I watched as his sexy muscles moved then averted my eyes quickly. Now was not the time to admire his handsome physique.

"I didn't try to poison your sister. I would never do such a thing to you or any of your family members," I continued. Something within me hoped he would acknowledge my statement but still, he was quiet.

"Josephine was the—"

"Get out of my sight," he said. "My irritation for you grows stronger each day."

"Jude," I said. My heart was squeezing painfully at his statement. Once upon a time, he had acted as if he was madly in love with me. "What have I done to you? Why do you hate me? Things weren't like this before so what went wrong." I ask.

Deep down, I know what went wrong but at least maybe I'd have some closure if he had opened his mouth for once to say it. The words that his family members so often repeated.

"Go home," he said and that was what I did.

When Martha returned home from the hospital I was not exactly thrilled. I had enjoyed the tranquillity of the house up until now.

"Dana!" A voice exclaimed. It was my mother-in-law Rebecca. "Don't tell me you did not make dinner yet?"

I walked down the stairs and came face to face with her. Shooting Martha a glance, I felt bad for her as I beheld her pale face. I never wished to have a friend like Josephine.

"Are you sure you want her to cook for the family again?" Joseph asked eyeing me coldly.

"That's true," Rebecca agreed. "She might decide to poison all of us."

"I ordered Chinese,", Jude said, dropping his jacket on the chair.

"We should see her to court?" Josephine suggested, then turned to Martha. "What do you think? She needs to be charged with attempted murder."

"What?" I gasped. These people won't stop at nothing to get my life ruined. I knew they hated me but was it enough to take me to court for attempted murder?

"Yes. You will be sued for this!" Rebecca agrees.

"No one is suing my wife and that is final," Jude said.

My heart warmed at that statement. When last had Jude referred to me as that? I shot him a smile, but all I got was a look of disgust.

"Your wife?" Josephine scoffed walking to him. She held his face and raised a brow. "Seriously Jude? She just poisoned your sister!"

"There will be no court case!" Jude exclaimed with finality in his voice. "That would be a waste of money on something insignificant. Martha is fine. We just put an end to her handling the meals and hired a new chef. I don't know Barton was fired in the first place," he said referring to the cook we had before.

The doorbell rang and a few minutes later, the butler came in announcing that the food had been delivered.

"As punishment, you won't be eating a single bite out of this meal," Rebecca said.

"Fine with me," I muttered and walked away. I wished that I had never encountered this family.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

I was in the living room on my third cup of vodka when Jude stumbled into the house at night. My day had gotten worse and when everyone had slept off, I had snuck downstairs to get drunk and forget all my problems. I didn't want to think of anything that had happened today.

He reeked of alcohol and could barely have control of his steps, I was surprised he was able to make it home by himself. "Jude, have you been drinking?" I asked, even though I already know the answer. I have a very low alcohol tolerance but I was still sober enough to be coherent.

"Just a few shots. Very teeny tiny bit of alcohol," he burped, giggling like a schoolboy. "You look beautiful."

"You're drunk, Jude," I said, avoiding his beautiful blue eyes. "Let's get you to bed."

"You're drunk too," he chuckled, holding my face. "and I'm not drunk. I'm just slightly tipsy."

"Still," I slurred, giving him a slight chuckle. "If anyone is tipsy, it's me. You are very drunk."

"Beautiful just like that night," he smiled, swiping a strand of hair away from my face. "So perfect, like a goddess just for me."

"Jude," I mumbled,

"What is it?" He asked.

"This... This should not happen, I—"

He ignored me and dipped his head, locking his lips with mine.

His lips melted into mine softly, I found my lips moving in sync with his. He caressed my neck softly.

"Jude," I breathed against his neck when he broke the kiss. "You're making a mistake."

"It's not a mistake," he muttered, kissing my neck. His hands slipped up my shirt.

"You're making a mistake," I moaned. "You're drunk."

"We are both drunk," he mumbled. His hands teased my nipples gently. "Let's recreate our first night together."

I don't know why, but those words made my heart melt.

It must have been the vodka.

How many bottles did you have again? You should always know when to stop to avoid making a mockery of yourself.