I rushed to the attic and threw open the door. A pungent, rotten stench hit me in the face.
I looked at the overflowing trash can by the bed.
One, two, three… too many to count.
The pain in my chest doubled me over. I dropped to my knees beside him, drowning in guilt.
"Dad, I'm sorry. Your son trusted the wrong people. That's why you're like this—why you had to endure this humiliation."
"I'm taking you away. Right now. This home? We don't need it anymore."
I unlocked the casters on his hospital bed and pushed him toward the door—only to find Kyle blocking the doorway, smirking.
"Alex, think I can completely replace you today?"
Before I could answer, he threw himself backward and tumbled down the stairs.
I stood frozen.
He clutched his stomach, groaning in pain, and Serena rushed over. The moment she saw him, her eyes went bloodshot.
"Alex! Have you lost your fucking mind?!"
"How far are you going to take this? Do you have to torment our baby until it's gone before you're satisfied?!"
Before I could speak, Kyle was already crying.
"Serena, he said since he can't have kids, he's going to make sure our baby dies with him…"
Serena's face twisted with rage. The look she gave me could have killed.
I knew she'd already sentenced me. It didn't matter that I hadn't done anything.
She stood and walked toward me. My heart went dead. I closed my eyes, bracing for the blow.
It never came.
When I opened my eyes, she had stopped beside my father's bed.
My chest seized. When I spoke, my voice shook.
"Serena, don't—"
"You know I have no one left. I'm begging you, don't hurt him. He only ended up like this because he saved you—"
She cut me off, her voice ice-cold.
"I gave you a chance, Alex."
"But you hurt him again and again. Since you won't repent, someone else will pay the price."
She shoved my father's hospital bed toward the stairwell.
"NO—!"
I lunged after it, but the wheels were already careening downward. The bed picked up speed, and my father was flung from the second-floor landing.
I scrambled down and gathered him in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Serena walked past me without a backward glance, Kyle leaning against her side.
Two hours later, the doctor emerged from the emergency room. He shook his head.
I ran inside like a madman.
The EKG was a flat line.
Everything I'd buried these past days—every wound, every betrayal—and the grief of losing my only family crashed over me like a flood.