I felt nauseous every morning, but doctors couldn’t find the cause. One day, a jeweler on the subway touched my hand.
“Take off that necklace. I see something in that pendant.”
I shuddered.
“My husband gave it to me.”
A wave of nausea rose in her throat. Sophia barely opened her eyes before throwing off the covers and running to the bathroom, slamming the door just before her stomach completely emptied.
For two months, every morning began the same way: that exhausting ritual at the toilet, after which, feeling completely exhausted, she would splash cold water on her face.
Sophia stared at her reflection: pale face, dark circles under her eyes, high cheekbones. She had lost 7 kilograms in those two months.
Although she had never been overweight, her colleagues at the pharmacy were already whispering behind her back. She overheard snippets of conversation about anorexia and nervous exhaustion.
The bathroom door creaked open and Alex’s worried face appeared.
“Again?” he asked quietly.
Sophia nodded, unable to find her voice.
Her husband stepped closer, put his arms around her, and she caught the familiar scent of his woody cologne with a hint of bergamot.
“What if we go to another doctor? Mom says she knows a gastroenterologist, a very good specialist.”
At the mention of her mother-in-law, Sophia involuntarily froze, but she tried to hide it. Eleanor was a sore subject in their marriage, the only cloud in the otherwise bright sky of their relationship.
“I’ve been to five doctors, Alex. They all say the same thing. My tests are fine. My organs are healthy. Maybe it’s psychosomatic, so I need a psychologist.”
Sophia pulled away and looked into her husband’s eyes. Had she imagined it, or had a flicker of doubt crossed his eyes? No, she probably had. Alex loved her. She never doubted it for a moment.
“I’m not crazy,” she said quietly but firmly.
“I’m not saying you’re crazy. Mom just thinks…”
“What else does your mom think?”
The question came out harsher than she intended. Alex frowned, and an awkward silence fell between them.
Sophia immediately regretted her words.
“I’m sorry. I’m just tired. This nausea is killing me.”
Her husband nodded, but she saw a hint of pain in his eyes. He had never been able to calmly bear her complaints about their mother.
To him, Eleanor was the ideal woman: strong, wise, and always right. And Sophia… Sophia was simply a woman who, for some reason, couldn’t connect with his family.
As she prepared for work, she absentmindedly touched the pendant around her neck—an elegant silver oval pendant engraved with an ivy leaf. Alex had given it to her two months earlier on their third wedding anniversary.
“This way you will always feel my love close to you,” he said, fastening the chain around her neck.
She hadn’t taken it off since then. The pendant was cool and pleasant to the touch, and Sophia couldn’t help but smile.
No matter what happened, she had Alex – the man who had changed her life three years earlier.
On her way to work, she took the subway as usual. The morning rush, the smell of coffee and perfume, the murmur of voices—all of this had become an inseparable part of her daily routine.
Sophia leaned back against the armrest and closed her eyes. The nausea subsided somewhat, but the weakness remained.
“Sorry”.
The voice came very close, and Sophia started and opened her eyes.
Before her stood an older man, tall, with a well-groomed gray beard and attentive dark eyes. He wore an old-fashioned but well-groomed suit, and on his ring finger was a wide gold ring with intricate engraving.
“Do we know each other?” Sophia asked, stunned.
“No, but I have to tell you something.”
The man spoke softly, almost in a whisper, leaning toward her. He smelled of old books and faintly of metal.
“Sorry. I’m not interested.”
Sophia tried to pull away, assuming he was another town eccentric or con artist, but the man gently touched her arm. He didn’t grab her—he touched her lightly and carefully.
“Take off your necklace. I want to see what’s inside the pendant.”
Sophia froze. Her fingers involuntarily reached for the jewelry.
“My husband gave it to me for our anniversary.”
“What are you doing?”
“Open it in front of me,” the man said quietly.
There was no threat in his voice. Only a strange, terrifying certainty.
“It won’t open. It’s a solid piece.”
The stranger shook his head.
“Yes, that’s right. See that line on the side? That’s the mechanism.”
But at the last minute, she changed her mind. The old man probably just wanted to cheat her, to extort money from her for an expensive appraisal or repair.
There were a lot of scammers in the city.
She put the pendant back on and went to sleep.
The next morning, Sophia felt so nauseous that she fainted in the bathroom.
She woke up on a cold, hard floor. She felt dizzy and had a metallic taste in her mouth.
“What is happening to me?” she whispered into the void.
As soon as she sat up, she looked in the mirror and shuddered. The face of a seriously ill man stared back at her—pale, thin, with dark circles under his eyes.
She had never felt so bad.
Her hands automatically grasped the clasp of the pendant. She took it off and placed it on the shelf, just as she had the day before. And as if by magic, she felt the knot in her stomach ease slightly.
She didn’t go to work that day. She called in sick.
She spent the entire day at home without her pendant. By evening, she felt almost normal.
She ate, watched a movie, and even went for a short walk around the courtyard, and before going to bed she put her jewelry back on, afraid that Alex would notice it was missing and get upset.
Morning brought another attack. Now there was no doubt.
Two days without a pendant – a relative relief.
Two days with a pendant – a terrible situation.
“This can’t be a coincidence. I’m going crazy,” Sophia thought.
But she was already dialing the business card number.
Richard answered after three rings.
„Sterling”.
“Hi. We met on the subway a few days ago. You told me about my pendant.”
Break.
Then a voice full of relief was heard.
“You finally called. Thank God. I was afraid I wouldn’t make it in time.”
“I didn’t make it in time – why?”
“To save you, my dear girl. To save you.”
Richard Sterling’s studio was located in an old building near the city center, with high ceilings, narrow windows and creaking wooden floors.
The sign above the entrance read: “Jewelry Workshop, Appraisal, Repair, Expertise.”
Since 1978.
Sophia pushed open the heavy door and found herself in a small room full of glass cases.
Behind the counter, leaning over a magnifying glass, sat the same man we had seen in the subway.
“Please,” he said without looking up.
“Did you bring the pendant?”
“Not.”
Sophia took the jewelry out of her pocket and placed it on the counter.
Richard Sterling put his work aside for a moment and carefully examined the pendant without touching it. Then he put on thin gloves and picked it up.
“I didn’t introduce myself properly. My name is Richard Sterling. Before I retired, I worked as an expert witness in the Major Homicide Unit, specializing in poisoning and toxicology. For the past fifteen years, I’ve been in the jewelry business—a hobby that practically became my profession.”
Sophia felt her hands go cold.
“Exactly. And when I saw your pendant on the subway, I knew immediately something was wrong. Listen, I’ve been dealing with poisoning for years, and I recognize the telltale signs immediately. The color of your face, the dark circles under your eyes, the general fatigue—classic symptoms of chronic poisoning.”
“But the doctors found nothing because they weren’t looking in the right place. They examined your body instead of analyzing your surroundings.”
He turned the pendant on its side.
“See that line? It’s not decoration. It’s a hidden mechanism.”
Richard took a thin device, resembling a dental probe, from a drawer and carefully inserted it into a barely visible slit on the side of the pendant.
There was a soft crack and the pendant opened in half.
Sophia stifled a scream.
Inside, nestled in a special recess, lay a small capsule, no larger than a grain of rice. It was translucent and contained a dark substance.
“What is this?” she whispered.
“This, my dear friend, is the explanation for your illness. A microcapsule containing a substance released upon contact with body heat. You wear the pendant on your chest—the warmest spot. The capsule heats up. The walls become permeable, and the poison slowly but surely penetrates the skin.”
Sophia felt like she was about to faint.
Richard quickly sat her down in a chair and handed her a glass of water.
“Inhale. Take a deep breath.”
“Who? Who did this?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you for sure that this wasn’t a manufacturing defect or an accident. Someone deliberately modified this jewelry to harm you.”
“But it’s a gift from my husband. He couldn’t do it…”
The jeweler raised his hand.
“I’m not saying your husband did it…”
It was the look of someone hiding a secret.
A terrible secret.
She was silent on the way home. Alex, already accustomed to her gloomy mood after her visits to his mother, asked no questions.
He turned on the radio and focused on the road.
“Alex,” Sophia said suddenly.
“If you had to choose between your mother and me, who would you choose?”
He looked at her in surprise.
“What kind of question is that?”
“Just answer.”
Alex remained silent.
“Sophia, this isn’t fair. You’re both important to me. You don’t have to put me in this position.”
“What if it were necessary?”
Silence.
“So I hope I never have to experience that.”
That wasn’t an answer.
And Sophia understood that when the time came, her husband would not be on her side.
He will try again to please them both.
He will choose neutrality again.
And then she will be alone.
The analysis results arrived five days later.
Richard called her at work. His voice sounded serious.
“Can you come over? We need to talk.”
The jeweler was waiting for her in the workshop with a thick folder full of documents.
“Sit down,” he said, pointing to the chair.
“The news is not good.”
Sophia felt her legs go weak.
“What’s in this?”
“Thallium. A heavy metal. One of the most poisonous to humans. It was once used in rat poison, but was later banned. Too dangerous. In chronic poisoning, it causes nausea, weakness, hair loss, and nervous system damage. In large doses, it is fatal.”
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