Chapter 4 - Blood Against Blood
That night, I received a knock on my door.
I opened it to find Daniel standing on my porch, holding a bottle of cheap wine and looking exhausted.
His eyes were bloodshot, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, smelling faintly of alcohol and desperation.
"Claire... can we talk?" he asked, stepping forward.
I didn't move out of the doorway. "Mom is sleeping. Speak quietly."
"Look, this whole thing has gotten completely out of hand," Daniel began, running a hand through his messy hair. "Vanessa is willing to drop the criminal charges against Mom. She won't press charges for the assault, provided Mom agrees to move into a quiet, comfortable assisted-living facility in Arizona."
I looked at my brother—the boy who used to protect me from neighborhood bullies, the man who had promised our father on his deathbed that he would always take care of our family.
"Assisted living?" I asked softly. "You mean a private asylum where she can be kept quiet while you and Vanessa spend her life savings?"
Daniel winced, looking down at his shoes.
"It's for her own good, Claire! Mom is getting old! She forgets things!"
"She didn't forget who you were when she paid off your college loans, Daniel!" I snapped, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. "She didn't forget you when she took out a second mortgage to pay for your failed business venture three years ago!"
"Vanessa says—"
"I don't give a damn what Vanessa says!" I stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind me so Mom wouldn't hear. "She beat your mother with a wooden bat! She broke her arm, Daniel! She sat on her chest and smashed her jaw! And you stood there and watched!"
"Mom hit her first!" Daniel yelled, his voice cracking. "She grabbed Vanessa's hair!"
"Because Vanessa was stealing her wedding ring right off her finger!" I yelled back, stepping into his personal space. "I saw the bruises on Mom's hands, Daniel. Defensive wounds. Classic, unmistakable defensive wounds."
Daniel swallowed hard, tears welling in his eyes.
"You don't understand, Claire... Vanessa has everything. If I leave her, if I don't go along with this... she'll ruin me. She has control of all my business accounts. I have nothing without her."
"You already have nothing," I said coldly. "You traded your conscience for a woman who views you as a puppet."
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He looked at me with a desperate, pleading expression. "Please, Claire. Don't take this to court. It will destroy us all."
"No," I whispered, reaching out to touch his cheek one last time, remembering the brother he used to be. "It will only destroy you. Now get off my porch before I call the police for trespass."
