His Dying Heart, Her Fatal Betrayal

dden by the angle of the corridor wall. Her voice, whic

u recorde

ith fear. A late spring breeze drifted through the open window at the end of the hospital hallway, but it felt

hey were using it to blackmail my family. Th

and deliberate. By the time Sarah came back to find me, her fa

r voice gentle. "Once you' re settle

d calmly. "I dro

e, her mouth slig

creaming at them, of confronting them, suddenly felt exhausting. Eighteen years. Eighteen years of a shared life, of dinners and holidays and scraped kne

. I reached for the passenger door, but when I opened it, I stopped. The seat was cluttered with Noah's things-a half-empty

id quickly, her voice a little too bright. "

. I closed the passenger door

ever since Noah had solidified his place in the family, any mention of his name was

ive home, pointing out new shops, aski

, I'm

of the back seat, tears I didn't know I was holding back began to str

mansion, I could hear loud cheers erupting fr

door and froze. The living

He was waving his trophy around. "They called me a genius! A true prodigy! T

d, honey! I even took pictures. The reporters cou

n the high-ceilinged room. "Just you wait. Your dad will

le new legend for Noah on top of it. It was only last year, at a company dinner, that Mr. Harrison had put a hand on my shoulder and tol

, with a strange, detached curiosity, if they would

riumphantly at his parents. "Dad, Mom, while we're making announ

fashion brand was just a small online boutique back then. I spent years helping her, giving her tech advice, building her an inventory management system, and creating a user interface that was years ahead of h

ruptly when they finally saw me standing ther

r voice layered with forced concern. "Et

ympathy. "Brother, I heard you were assaulted. Are you okay? It

ction. The flicker of concern in Mrs. Harrison' s eyes died, repl

feel humiliated. I just felt...

ng, anything, when my father cut me

hat happened, you should stay home