Chapter 4

Alina walked in with Brett, her expression grim.

Derrick caught Brett's eye and immediately put on a guilty look.

"We... we weren't staging anything. Wait, no..." He quickly shut his mouth and glanced silently at me.

Alina closed her eyes. Then her voice dropped. "Talk."

Derrick immediately began trembling. "I'm sorry, Ms. Beasley. Mr. Beasley hired me. He told me to beat him up. Then he could make it look like the young man with you was responsible."

Brett's eyes widened as if he'd suffered some terrible injustice. "Zeke? How could you..."

I struggled to my feet. My back was already soaked in blood, and my nose had started bleeding again. Drops splattered onto the floor.

"Brett, I'm already out of the Beasley family. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Alina sneered. "Leave you alone? Zeke, you're still putting on this act?"

She shook her head, and the disappointment in her eyes still managed to hurt me. "How did you become like this?"

Her gaze suddenly stopped on the blood pouring from my nose.

Something seemed to seize in her chest, and she frowned hard, but the next instant, she seemed to come to her senses. For some reason, it only made her angrier.

"You really planned this thoroughly just to frame Brett, didn't you? Zeke, you're vicious! I can't believe I bothered coming to see you. What a waste!"

With that, she turned and left with Brett.

The apartment fell silent.

Derrick suddenly sneered. "Looks like being the Beasley family's oldest son isn't doing you much good."

He grabbed my face in one hand, his expression vicious. "Don't worry. You've got plenty more good times ahead of you."

I sank to the floor. My unfocused eyes remained fixed on the closed door.

Inside, I felt numb. Somehow, it didn't hurt as much anymore.

A week later, I collapsed again.

Maybe out of guilt, Dr. Craig paid out of his own pocket for a course of pain medication for me. "If we can't find a bone marrow donor, you may not have much time left."

My fingers tightened. I simply nodded and left the hospital.

Alina didn't come to see me again after that.

Brett, on the other hand, showed up every so often to torment me and mock me.

I lay sick and weak in bed, too drained to fight back. I could only endure whatever he chose to do to me.

"Don't blame me. You had everything. I had nothing. I didn't have a choice. I had to take it from you. Alina can only have one brother, and that has to be me."

That night, for the first time in ages, Alina called me. "Have you realized what you did wrong?"

I fell silent and didn't answer. Sometimes I asked myself the same thing.

Was I wrong? What had I done wrong?

"Alina, the day after tomorrow is my birthday. Will you spend it with me? Like you did when I turned eighteen?"

The other end of the line went quiet. All I could hear was Alina's slightly heavy breathing.

"I'm in Iceland with Brett right now, watching the Northern Lights. I might not make it back, but… If you admit you were wrong, I'll bring you a present."

I lowered my eyes. The pain in my body made the hand holding my phone tremble uncontrollably.

"Really? But, Alina..." I paused, fighting back the overwhelming ache in my chest. "I don't even know what I did wrong."

Her voice immediately turned sharp again. "Zeke, I never should've expected anything from you."

The call ended.

My hand went limp, and the phone fell heavily to the floor.

Tears shimmered at the corners of my eyes in the moonlight.

A gust of wind came through. It was so cold. So cold.

Over the next two days, I didn't even have the strength to reach for my medication. I lay in bed, watching the clock tick away.

When the final second passed, I finally accepted the truth. Alina wasn't coming back.

I was so tired. My breathing grew weaker.

"Happy birthday, Zeke Beasley." The words slipped from my lips.

Then I took my last breath and closed my eyes for good.

The next second, someone pounded on the door. Alina's muffled voice came from outside. "Zeke, open the door!"