My Brother's Twisted Cruelty

I believed he was in prison and our family was ruined, so I end

ion that shattered everything. My suffering wasn't a traged

d, Kecia. He called me dramatic and ungrateful. When I finally fought back, he slapped

r vacation. My life was nothing but

son in return. As I bled out in my fi

my voice fading. "Is th

pte

e Mor

nt I never deserved. I spent five years paying for a crime my brother didn't commit

ation neve

n my apartment door, and made sure every gig-economy job I

eer, crushing weight of loneliness-it hollowed

ed to end it. Thre

every pill I could find,

g around me, when a voice, sharp and

ce laced with panic. "He's going to find o

cold and dismissive. "It was just a

al blow. Ashton. Not in jail.

his downfall; it was the downfall its

stripped me of everything, left me s

d give him one he'd never for

darkness was calling. This

d with my life, to watch m

cruel satisfaction in her tone. "After what

e to learn. They wanted

aste, but now it was sharper, l

on. The one who promised to pr

ent, but it would echo

s ultimate lesson. T

one will ever know it was us. She's just

a lesson, and all I learned was how t

apter, the devastating clima