In the next moment, his face contorted with rage, and he grabbed my throat with both hands. He wasn't kidding around this time; he actually wanted to kill me.
His grip tightened, cutting off my air. Within seconds, I was choking, and the world began to darken.
As I was on the verge of passing out, Chelsea's unexpected words interrupted the chaos.
"I’m flying!"
Everyone turned toward her, their attention snapped in her direction.
I almost lost my soul from fear.
When I looked up, I saw that, at some point, Chelsea had gotten out of bed.
She was leaning against the window, with her upper body already hanging outside.
"Anthony!"
"Sis!" Zeke yelled out.
Their faces turned pale with fear as they quickly rushed over and pulled her back inside.
Meanwhile, I finally had a moment to catch my breath. Taking advantage of their distraction, I endured the pain and quietly slipped out of the room.
...
In the afternoon, my parents visited me at the hospital. When they found out I had likely seen the criminal, their expressions turned to disbelief.
"Why didn’t you tell the police who the criminal was? Why did you let Chelsea suffer? Are you even a man?"
Seeing the disappointment in their eyes, I turned my head away, unable to meet their gaze, and remained silent.
"To think I raised a son like you…" My father’s voice trembled with anger. "You’re nothing but a disgrace to me, Anthony!"
He then stormed out of the room. Meanwhile, my mother remained, but her attitude toward me was noticeably different from that moment on.
I didn’t try to explain myself.
...
The next morning, Zeke arrived early. This time, he didn’t beat or insult me like he had the day before.
Instead, it seemed like he had changed his approach.
"Anthony, you didn’t report to the police, right?" Zeke asked, his voice calm but with a hint of something unspoken.
I shook my head in response.
He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Yesterday, we acted out of emotion. But you have to understand, Chelsea is my sister. We love her more than anything. We can’t stand seeing her like this. You get that, right?"
I nodded slowly. "Yes, I do."
"Good." Zeke sat down beside my bed and lit a cigarette, his eyes not quite meeting mine. "You don’t mind, do you?"
"It’s fine," I said quickly, not wanting to make things worse.