Cristina entered the room again, carrying another plate of cookies. She was smiling forcefully, but her eyes betrayed irritation.
„Sorry about the cookies, love,” Sergiu said innocently. „I’m still a little dizzy from the medication.”
„Don’t worry,” she replied, placing the new plate on the nightstand. „You have to drink the tea while it’s hot. I also added a little honey to help you regain your strength.”
Sergiu noticed Anastasia, half hidden behind the door, watching the scene with wide, apprehensive eyes.
„Why don’t you drink with me?” she asked, pointing to the replaced cup—the one that had originally been hers, but was now in front of Cristina’s chair.
A subtle flash of panic crossed Cristina’s face—so fleeting that only someone looking carefully could have noticed it.
„Oh… I just made myself some tea in the kitchen,” she replied, standing up. „It’s okay, I’ll bring it here.”
“There’s no need,” Sergiu said, lightly grabbing her wrist. “Take this. There’s enough tea for both of us.”
Cristina hesitated, staring at the cup as if it contained poisonous snakes.
“I insist,” Sergiu added, and his gentle voice became firm.
With her hand trembling slightly, Cristina took the cup. First she gazed at the golden liquid, then at Sergiu.
“You’re not well, dear,” he noted. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m just tired,” she murmured. “The last few days have been very stressful, with your illness and everything else.”
“Drink,” he encouraged her. “It’ll do you good.”
Cristina raised the cup to her lips, but didn’t drink. She just pretended to sip.
“Delicious,” she said, putting the cup down. “But I think I should go into the kitchen for a moment and check on something… Maybe I left the gas on.”
Sergiu noticed how, as he spoke, she tried to swap the cups again—in a seemingly harmless gesture, rearranging the tray.
“Enough!” he shouted, grabbing her hand. “I think it’s time to end this charade, Cristina.”
Her face went chalk-white.
“What… what do you mean?”
“Anastasia,” Sergiu called his daughter. “Come here, darling.”
The little girl hesitantly approached her father’s bed and took his hand.
“Tell Aunt Cristina what you saw in the kitchen.”
With a trembling voice, Anastasia said:
“I saw you pour a white liquid into Daddy’s tea. From a small bottle you kept hidden in the cabinet, behind the glasses.”
Cristina tried to laugh, but the sound was shrill and false.
“How silly! It’s just a little girl’s imagination.” She must have seen when I added honey or milk.
„Then you won’t have any problem drinking the tea, right?” Sergiu retorted, pushing the cup toward her.
„I… I’m not thirsty now.”
„Strange. You were the one who insisted I drink it hot.”
Sergiu rose from bed—erect, more confident than in the previous days.
He had recovered much faster than he’d let on, carefully observing his wife’s increasingly strange behavior.
„You know, ever since you moved into my house, Cristina, I’ve felt different. An inexplicable weakness, dizziness, stomach pains.
„The doctor hadn’t found anything—until yesterday, when I asked him to do a drug test.”
„Cristina’s eyes widened with fear.
„Traces of arsenic were found in my system. Small doses, administered constantly. Not enough to kill me, but enough to weaken me and make me dependent on your care.”
” “It’s absurd!” she exploded. “You’re accusing me unfairly, based solely on the words of a little girl who hated me from day one!”
“I’m not just basing my accusation on Anastasia’s words,” Sergiu replied calmly. “But also on the police investigation, which discovered that your first husband died under similar circumstances.
And the second, too. Both wealthy men, both with life insurance policies of which you were the sole beneficiary.”
Cristina sank into a chair, her face color draining.
“I know the truth, Cristina. I know you came to me as soon as you learned about the inheritance I received last year.
I know how you tried to push Anastasia away, sending her more and more often to her grandparents. And how you wanted to convince me to change the will in your favor.”
She remained silent, desperately searching for an escape route, calculating her options.
“The police are already here,” Sergiu continued. “They were just waiting for you to try to poison me again. Just like you just did.”
As if to confirm her words, the door swung open and two officers entered.
“Cristina Munteanu, you’re under arrest for attempted murder,” one announced, approaching with handcuffs.
With a furious scream, Cristina threw the cup at Sergiu, but he ducked, and the liquid splashed onto the wall behind him. She tried to run away, but the other officer grabbed her arm.
As she was led away, she turned and looked at Anastasia with
I hate.
“It’s all your fault, you stupid little girl! If you hadn’t intervened, your father would be dead and I would be rich!”
Sergiu hugged Anastasia to his chest, shielding her from Cristina’s venom.
After the police left, he was alone with his daughter, holding her close.
“Dad, I was so scared,” Anastasia whispered.
“I know, darling. You were very brave. You saved me.”
“Why did he want to kill you?”
Sergiu sighed deeply, searching for the right words to explain to a seven-year-old the existence of evil in the world.
“Some people are blinded by greed, darling. They want money and power at any cost. But you don’t have to be afraid. She’s gone now and she’ll never come back.”
That evening, after putting Anastasia to bed, Sergiu sat on the armchair in the living room, still trembling at the thought of how close he’d come to death.
If her daughter hadn’t been so careful, if she hadn’t had the courage to speak out…
The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. It was the investigator on the case.
– Mr. Popescu, we found Cristina’s diary in the basement of her house. In it, she had precisely recorded every dose of arsenic she had administered to her over the past six months.
And, worse still, detailed plans for how she intended to „take care” of her daughter after her disappearance.
A cold shiver ran down Sergiu’s spine.
– Thank you, Detective. What… what will happen to her now?
– With the evidence we have and with her ex-husbands’ cases reopened, she will spend the rest of her life in prison. She will never be able to hurt anyone again.
After hanging up, Sergiu entered Anastasia’s room. He stood in the doorway, watching her sleep peacefully, unaware of how close she had come to a terrible fate.
„I promise you,” he whispered, „that from now on I’ll be much more careful who I let into our lives. For a while, it will be just you and me, until my heart learns to trust again.”
He leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead, grateful for his daughter’s insight and courage, which had saved his life and shown him that, sometimes, the smallest members of the family are the strongest defenders.