That sickly-sweet gardenia scent finally pushed past my nose, slid into my airway, and sank straight into my lungs. It felt like countless thin, barbed vines bursting to life inside me, spreading through my chest.

A rasping, broken sound tore out of my throat, like an old bellows wheezing its final breath. Every inhale felt like it was ripping me apart from the inside.

My mom was the first to put her cutlery down. She glanced at me, her expression suddenly full of concern.

"Tess, what's wrong?"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My vision blurred. The dishes on the table melted into a dull haze.

"Tess!" My younger brother, Terence Hayes, shot to his feet, his face drained of all color. He was in med school. More than anyone, he knew exactly what was happening to me.

"Tess, you're having an asthma attack!" His shout was like a bomb dropped into the room.

My dad jumped up. My mom was already on the verge of tears.

I convulsed with violent coughing, but no air would come in. Only cracked, desperate sounds escaped my throat. The suffocating pressure tightened like a net, wrapping around me and closing in on me.

My face darkened to a sickening shade of purple. I clawed at my own neck, my nails digging into skin as my body started to spasm uncontrollably.

Everyone panicked, except for Jason. He just frowned, a mix of irritation and impatience written all over his face. There wasn't a trace of worry or fear.

"Tessa, cut it out."

His voice was quiet, but it sliced through my ears like shards of ice. "This is Winona's first time visiting. Look at the scene you're causing."

I stared at him, my chest heaving so hard I was close to collapsing to my knees. This was the man I had loved for ten years.

He thought I was acting. He thought I was ruining his precious dinner with his first love.

Winona's tears came instantly, her performance flawless. "Jas, don't blame Tessa. This is my fault…"

She clutched his arm, crying softly, delicate and pitiful. "Did I upset Tessa somehow?"

She paused, lowering her voice just enough to sound hesitant, yet loud enough for everyone at the table to hear. "Has she done this before, just to get your attention?"

That line went straight for the throat. In one sentence, I was reduced to a jealous, hysterical woman, someone reckless enough to gamble with her own life just to compete for affection.

The last trace of hesitation in Jason's eyes vanished. When he looked at me again, there was only disappointment and a cold, measuring stare.

No, I couldn't collapse here. Summoning every bit of strength I had left, I lifted my trembling hand and pointed toward the bedroom. I locked eyes with Terence and silently shaped the word with my lips.

"Medicine."

He understood instantly. "The inhaler! I'll get it!"

He bolted for the bedroom like a gust of wind.

My parents tried to rush toward me, but Jason lifted a hand and stopped them. "Darren, Lucy, don't get involved."

His voice was icy. "She's just throwing a tantrum. Same old routine of hers. Let her calm down on her own."

Calm down? I stared at him calmly, at this man who was handsome and cruel in equal measure.

Fine. I'd die right here then, calmly, right in front of you.

Terence rushed back out, gripping the swapped "rescue inhaler." "Tess! I've got it!"

I looked at the bottle. The one Winona had so carefully prepared for me—my one-way ticket to hell. And the perfect piece of evidence to send her there with me.

I reached out toward Terence. He rushed to my side and didn't even have time to twist the cap open properly before shoving the nozzle toward my wide-open mouth.

"Tess, open up!" He was frantic.

The next second, a liquid saturated with an overpowering, searing gardenia scent blasted straight down my throat.

It wasn't medicine; it was fire. It was a blade. It was like acid.

My already spasming airway seized completely, slammed shut by the brutal burn of it.

The terror of dying closed in on me. So, this was what it felt like to be murdered with perfume. What a… Creative way to die.

Terence caught the scent. He snatched the bottle, brought it to his nose, and took a sharp sniff. In that instant, his face shifted from pale to ashen to a horrifying shade of red.

"Tess!" He let out a scream so raw it tore through the room. "This is fucking perfume!"

That single sentence detonated like a bomb.

My dad, a professor who had spent his entire life being composed and refined, completely lost control. He grabbed an unopened bottle of whiskey and lunged at Winona like a madman.

However, my mom was faster. Like an enraged lioness, she threw herself forward, seized Winona by the hair, and yanked with everything she had.

"I'll kill you, you rotten bitch!"

Winona shrieked, sharp and piercing. Then, I saw the scene that finally shattered what was left of my heart.

Jason lost it. He shoved my mother away hard. My mom staggered and slammed into the corner of the dining table, letting out a muffled cry.

He pulled the trembling Winona behind him, shielding her with his body like she was a priceless treasure. Facing my family, he roared like a wild animal. "That's enough! She didn't do it on purpose!"

He pointed at my dad, my mom, and Terence kneeling on the floor. "Are you trying to kill her?"

My world spun violently. The ringing in my ears felt like it was about to tear my eardrums apart. With the last scrap of strength I had, I looked at him—my husband.

He finally looked at me, too. I was convulsing on the floor, my face twisted in agony.

But there was not a trace of pain or concern in his eyes; only irritation and fury that his precious reunion had been ruined, as if my desperate fight for breath was nothing more than an act meant to spoil his mood.

Oh, I got it. I finally understood. My consciousness sank into a dark, bottomless swamp.

The shouting, my mother's sobs, Jason's rage… It all drifted farther away, as if separated by thick, frosted glass. So this was what death felt like.

Everything was quiet. It wasn't all that bad.

In the final second, just as I was about to let go, my fingertips brushed against something cold and solid between the couch cushions. The last spare inhaler I had hidden there.

The instinct to survive struck like lightning. I clenched it with everything I had, as if I was grabbing a lifeline. Trembling, I fumbled with it and aimed it at my own mouth.

I couldn't even see clearly. It was all muscle memory. Pssht. Pssht.

The mist cut through my clogged throat, sharp and burning, but with it came air I hadn't breathed in forever. Fresh oxygen poured into my lungs, scorching and raw. I gasped greedily, painfully, dragging in breath after breath.

I was alive. The chaos in the living room never stopped.

Jason held Winona in his arms like he was some kind of savior. "Are you done yet? You're nothing but rude, savage, and unreasonable!"

He pointed at my parents and bellowed, "Touch her again and see what happens!"

Winona clung to him, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "Jas, I'm so scared… I didn't mean it… How could Tessa frame me like this…"

Frame her? I braced myself against the couch and slowly, inch by inch, stood up.

The world spun from lack of oxygen, but my gaze had never been clearer. The ruckus in the living room stopped dead the moment I straightened up. Everyone froze, staring at me like the pause button had been hit.

I raised a hand and wiped the tears and drool from the corner of my mouth.

Then, I smiled.

I looked at Jason, who was shielding his precious one. My unnervingly calm voice was hoarse as I asked, "Done putting on a show?"

His eyes widened.

I didn't look at him again. Instead, my gaze shifted to the face in his arms that was so pale it looked drained of all color. I picked up the "weapon" from the coffee table and walked toward her, step by step.

"Winona." I raised the perfume bottle. "You swapped my asthma inhaler with Dior's spring limited-edition gardenia perfume, didn't you?"

Her body shook violently.

"I remember it well. You were showing it off online just three days ago, bragging that Jas picked it out and said the scent was made for you.

"Over three hundred comments praising your beauty, kindness, and how perfectly the perfume matches you. The irony was sickening."

Her face shifted from ghostly pale to a deep, purplish hue. "You… You're lying!"

"The evidence is right here. Are you going to deny it?"

I didn't wait for her answer. I pulled out my phone and opened an app, turning the screen to face everyone.

The live feed from our living room appeared, along with detailed, real-time air quality data.

"Oops, I forgot to mention that 'crazy woman' you accused of risking her life just to get a man's attention upgraded her smart home the day before yesterday."

I pointed to a spike on the air quality graph. "This purifier recorded everything. From the second you stepped in, the concentration of gardenia scent in the air spiked from zero straight into the danger zone."

My finger glided across the screen, tapping a video clip. It showed Winona sneaking behind me into the bedroom. Thirty seconds later, she came back out alone, glancing around nervously, like she knew exactly what she'd done.

I held the phone up in front of her, my voice barely louder than a whisper. "It even captured how perfectly you staged this accident."

The thirty-second clip looped in the dead-silent living room over and over.

Her face crumpled inch by inch. Her panic became utter despair. Then, with a soft thud, her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the floor like a heap.

Jason's gaze lifted slowly from the phone screen to my face. There was no guilt or fear in his eyes.

There was only shock and disbelief, and the ugly rage of someone who realized he'd been played.

He asked hoarsely, "Tessa, you set me up?"

I nearly laughed. Set him up? Was survival a crime now?

Before I could even speak, Terence pulled out his phone, dialing 911 with cold efficiency. "Hello, officers. This is Unit 1201, Building 7, Westwood Heights. There's been an attempted murder."

He paused, then added, "Please dispatch paramedics as well. We have a critical patient."

My mom pointed at Winona, who was still trembling on the floor. "Yes! They're in cahoots!"

My dad sat nearby, slapping his thigh in disbelief, muttering, "What a mess… What a damn mess!"

The police and paramedics arrived almost simultaneously. The scene was chaotic and spectacular.

I stayed calm, handing over my phone and the Dior perfume bottle to the officers. "Here's the evidence. And here's the video.

"They are the witnesses," I added, nodding to my parents and Terence.

Jason went insane, lunging forward to stop the police. "Officer, it's a misunderstanding! This is a family matter!"

He turned to me, his voice pleading. "Tessa, stop this. Just let her go for my sake."