Chapter 2

Ethan clutched the thin medical report in his trembling hand. Multiple organ failure. A direct result of sustained abuse. The doctor at the city clinic had been blunt.

He' d left it on his nightstand in the guest room they' d assigned him, a room far from the family wing.

Olivia found it.

She stormed in, waving the paper. "Faking illness now, Ethan? Is this for sympathy? To make us feel guilty?"

Her voice was sharp, laced with accusation. "Just like you faked everything else."

As if on cue, Jake appeared in the doorway, leaning heavily on a cane Ethan knew he didn't truly need.

Jake' s face was pale, his eyes wide with feigned terror.

"He's trying to upset me," Jake gasped, looking at Olivia. "That report... it's fake. He wants me to feel guilty for... for what he did to me."

He started to hyperventilate, a performance Ethan had seen many times.

Olivia rushed to Jake' s side, cooing, "Oh, Jake, darling, don't listen to him. He can't hurt you anymore."

Ethan watched them, a bitter taste in his mouth. His own family.

He remembered the countless times Eleanor had brushed aside his own childhood hurts, always prioritizing Jake, the favored, illegitimate son.

Jake, the master manipulator, now calming under Olivia' s touch, shooting Ethan a triumphant, hateful glance over her shoulder.

Ethan looked down at his scarred hands. The report wasn't fake. His body was failing.

Olivia turned back to Ethan, her eyes hard. "You always were a deceiver, Ethan. Always trying to manipulate."

She spoke of her own sacrifices, the five years she' d spent caring for Jake, the emotional toll of his "PTSD."

"You caused all this suffering," she accused. "I had to pick up the pieces."

Ethan finally spoke, his voice raspy. "You forced me to swallow drain cleaner, Olivia. Remember? In your rage, right before they took me. You said I deserved to have my insides burned out."

He pulled open his shirt, revealing a latticework of old, ridged scars across his chest and abdomen, alongside the newer ones. "Does this look like a deception?"

Olivia recoiled slightly, her face paling. "I... I was angry. There was evidence... Jake was so broken. I had to account for him."

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "You still need to admit what you did to him, Ethan. For everyone's sake."

"Admit to lies?" Ethan said, his voice gaining a little strength. "You were my wife, Olivia. Didn't you ever trust me, even for a moment?"

Jake, seeing Olivia waver, let out a theatrical sob. "He's blaming me again! He' s using his... his fake sickness to make Olivia doubt me!"

He stumbled dramatically, clutching his chest. "I can't... I can't breathe."

Olivia immediately turned her attention back to Jake.

"If anything happens to Jake because of you," Olivia hissed at Ethan, her face contorted with anger, "I'll make sure you go back to that place, and this time, they'll finish the job."

She helped a "distressed" Jake from the room.

Ethan was left alone, the threat hanging in the air. He looked at the medical report again. Terminal.

The punishment had been thorough.