A Honeyed Tragedy

My in-laws go on a jungle trip and are stung by venomous bees. An exorbitant sum is needed for their surgeries, so I hurriedly call my husband for help.

However, as soon as the call connects, he berates me. "They can die if you don't have money to treat them! Why waste the money? Your family isn't mine—what does it have to do with me if they die? Also, Chloe has no money for food. I'm transferring what we have to buy her a meal."

He hangs up abruptly and transfers whatever money I have.

Meanwhile, his parents die because we didn't pay to save them.

I rushed to the hospital and found my in-laws and their family lying in bed, barely hanging on to life.

The doctor told me to pay the fees, but I only had 200 dollars left on my phone. I had no choice but to call my husband, Daniel Ferguson.

The phone barely rang before Daniel hung up.

I refused to give up and called him again, but he hung up right away. Then, he blocked me.

The doctor stood next to me, clearly awkward. I pretended not to notice and asked, "Can I borrow your phone?"

He nodded and handed it to me. I quickly tried calling Daniel again.

As soon as he picked up, I hurriedly said, "Daniel, your whole family got stung by wasps. It's really serious! Transfer the money for the surgery to me now!"

I thought he would ask how much, but after two seconds of silence, he cursed at me, "Linda, if you want money, you don't have to curse my family!"

I was stunned, then quickly explained, "I'm not lying. They really were stung and are now in the ICU. We have to raise money immediately for the surgery."

I sped up my words, afraid Daniel would hang up again.

"Linda, are you reading from a script or something? You're talking way too fast. And your acting isn't good enough."

The doctor beside me couldn't stand it any longer. He grabbed the phone and said, "Sir, your wife isn't acting. Your family urgently needs money for surgery."

He made it very clear, but Daniel still refused to believe it. He said coldly, "Did she even hire extras to help her out? Whatever. If her family needs money, that's not my problem."

His voice came through on speaker, loud and clear.

"It was your family in the ICU!"

The dial tone echoed through the silent hallway.

The doctor showed me the disconnected call and gave me a helpless look.

I knew I couldn't rely on Daniel. I called my relatives one by one, begging them for money, and finally managed to gather over a hundred thousand dollars.

I still needed 3,000 more for the surgery. Then, I remembered my credit card limit was 5,000 dollars and breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as I was about to pay, I received a notification on my phone that 2,000 dollars had been charged to my credit card.

I checked repeatedly to make sure. Before I could even react, I got a message saying another thousand dollars had been spent.

I was now a thousand dollars short for the surgery.

I immediately guessed that Daniel was behind it.

He always used my credit card to cover his expenses and never paid me back. If I asked, he claimed he was short on cash and told me to use my wedding fund.

In the end, my wedding fund was used to cover his expenses.

He even invested all of it in stocks without my permission and lost every cent.

He refused to agree to a divorce, so I had no choice but to look for a job to pay off the debt.

I wanted to call him, but I remembered he had already blocked me. I hurriedly borrowed another passerby's phone.

When the call connected, I demanded, "Daniel, did you just spend money on my credit card? Send it back right now."

He not only refused but got angry. "So what if I used your money? We're married, right? Why are you so stingy? Chloe didn't have money for food, so I treated her. Learn to do a good deed for once."

I retorted, "That money was for your family's surgery. If you don't return it now, they're really going to die!"

"They're your family. Don't pin this on me."

"Daniel, who are you talking to?"

I heard a woman's voice on the other end of the call. I was about to confront him, but he ended the call.

I didn't dare think about it any longer. Even if I couldn't afford surgery for everyone, I could still try to save a few of them.

But when I found the doctor again, he told me all six of them had lost their vital signs because they didn't get treated in time.