Chapter 3The Good Brother With A Deadly Secret

I froze, stunned, and for a second, I felt like my right ear had gone deaf too.

“An addict? What are you talking about?”

Her face was dark. She uncapped the bottle and poured the contents onto the table.

White powder.

My eyes went wide with shock. My pupils shrunk.

“I didn’t believe Grant when he told me, but I see it now. Not only are you messy in your personal life, but you’ve taken up something illegal!”

Savannah was incandescent with fury, her voice a shrill, sharp weapon:

“No wonder you’ve been acting so strange lately. This is what you’ve been doing!”

I was plunged into an ice bath. I scrambled to explain:

“This is my cancer medicine! I didn’t put anything in it! I don't know—”

“Still lying!”

Savannah cut me off, her eyes like knives.

“Just tell me this: Is this your bottle?”

“Yes, but—”

“There are no ‘buts’!”

Her rage was uncontrollable. She crossed the room in three strides, raised her hand, and slapped me hard.

Snap. My left ear started ringing again—that familiar, sickening buzz.

She was shaking with raw fury.

“Elias Bellweather, what is your endgame? Are you trying to destroy me?”

“I forgave you for your personal issues, but now you’re breaking the law. Do you want to do a few years in prison just to calm down?”

I couldn't stop the tears this time. They streamed down my face.

I clutched my ear, my voice hoarse.

“Grant switched my medicine! We can go to the hospital and test me for drugs! I don’t have anything in my system!”

“You’re going to be ruined if you go to the hospital!”

She jabbed a finger at my forehead, her eyes welling up.

“I don’t know why I have a brother like you. Elias, you are such a disappointment!”

“From today on, you don’t leave the house. I check everything you eat and drink.”

I was utterly defenseless, sweating with panic. I grabbed her arm.

“Savannah, I didn’t do anything! I can call the police!”

She ripped her arm away and threw my phone to the floor, shattering the screen. Then she picked it up and pocketed it.

“Call the police for what? So the whole world knows my brother is a junkie and laughs at me?”

She shut off the phone and, without another word, shoved me into the basement.

“You’re staying here. You can come out when you’re clean.”

The heavy door slammed shut. Bang.

Darkness swallowed me whole. I pounded on the door, screaming until my lungs were raw:

“Let me out! I’m telling the truth!”

Savannah’s voice, muffled through the door, sounded distant.

“Don’t lie to me. I know you, Elias. This is for your own good. I am saving you.”