Lahat ng Kabanata ng When Brotherhood Becomes Betrayal: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

My sister, Layla Biggs, saw the deadness in my eyes and tried every gentle argument she could think of."Edwin, we're not young anymore, and you have Casey to think about now," she said. "Take my advice. Turn a blind eye to things and just get through the days."Layla was my blood sister. And she had been helping someone else lie to me.Her husband, Toby Banks, stood beside her, one hand resting on my shoulder, playing peacemaker with just a little too much effort."Layla's right, Edwin. You've got a kid to raise. Do you really have what it takes to start all over?" he said. "Vince couldn't help it either. Years ago, his family went bankrupt, and they were buried in debt. With nowhere left to turn, his last assets were about to be auctioned off. Ariel was the one who saved him. He had no way to repay her, so he could only..."Something in my chest twisted with pain.Toby and I, along with Vince Weaver, had been inseparable since middle school. We'd sworn to be brothers for life.

Ariel's tone was perfectly calm, without a trace of guilt or hesitation."Get it arranged as soon as possible. Stop dragging things out and making Vince's condition worse."That single sentence hit me so hard I couldn't breathe.Back in middle school, Vince used to come over to my house all the time with Toby. My mother remembered that Vince loved steak, and every time he visited, she'd make it especially for him. Later, when his own mother fell gravely ill and passed away, the Weaver family was already bankrupt and drowning in debt, with nothing left in the house and not even enough to afford a coffin.It was my savings that gave his mother a proper burial.My mother and I had never once wronged him.And now he wasn't willing to let me be, not even while I was still alive, and he wouldn't leave the dead alone either.I bit down hard on my lip and said, my voice shaking, "Absolutely not. My mother has rested in peace for years. I won't move her grave."My refusal only enraged

I floated up above and watched Ariel, who looked like she'd lost her mind, rush toward the car like a woman gone mad.She was shaking all over as she stared at the two bodies, one large and one small, lying in a pool of blood, not knowing which of us to hold first. "Edwin, Casey, wake up, look at me. Please, I'm begging you..."Only silence answered her.I found myself wondering what she had to be so heartbroken about. Wasn't this exactly what she'd wanted? Now she could spend the rest of her life with Vince, without Casey and me standing in her way.A few minutes later, a stumbling figure broke through the crowd. It was Layla.She'd been at the cemetery handling the last of the digging when the call came, and she'd driven over recklessly fast, throwing caution to the wind.The moment she saw everything, her legs gave out from under her and she dropped straight to her knees in the rain-soaked mud.She threw herself onto the pavement, slick with blood and rain, and wailed at th

The chaos at the wake was over. The police had taken Vince into custody, and a long trial awaited him.The huge hall stood empty now, nothing left but wreckage scattered across the floor.Ariel sat slumped on a cushion, drained of all strength, staring at the two black-and-white memorial photos side by side. She stayed there the entire night.Just before dawn, she drove alone out to the cemetery.Ariel dropped to her knees in front of the headstone, the cold seeping instantly through her clothes. She laid the white roses gently at the base of the stone, her fingers tracing over and over the eyes and brows in my photograph.All those memories from the past came rushing back at once, like a tide.She remembered how, when we were young, I'd stood by her against my family's objections, sharing a cramped rented room barely bigger than a closet, splitting a cheap bowl of soup between us. Those had been hard times, but happy ones too.Maybe some people are only built to share hardship,