Gretchen's hand froze mid-reach where she'd been shielding Rex. She looked at me, her expression tangled with guilt.

Rex went white. He spun around and climbed onto the windowsill. While my parents screamed, he let out a bitter laugh through his tears:

"Max, I had no idea you'd been suffering so much because of me all these years."

"I've always known I was nothing but a burden, dragging all of you down. If it weren't for not wanting to break Mom and Dad's hearts, if it weren't for meeting Gretchen, I would've killed myself a long time ago."

"It's not too late. Let me die now. Consider it my way of making it up to you."

My mother shrieked, begging Rex not to move, then whipped around and hit me:

"You won't be satisfied until you've driven your brother to death, is that it?! Tell him now! Tell him you were wrong!"

Even Gretchen grabbed my hand, squeezing it so hard her knuckles went white, demanding I apologize to Rex immediately:

"Max! Just listen! Apologize to Rex first! You can't just stand there and watch him die!"

I let a mocking smile spread across my face.

"In your dreams."

"He's been pulling this suicide stunt for over a decade. If he actually wanted to die, he'd be dead already."

"He's just using your sympathy to put on a show and push me around."

A slap cracked across my face. My mother glared at me like I was her worst enemy and screamed:

"How did I raise such a vicious son?! If anything happens to my boy because of you, I will never let this go!"

In the end, Rex didn't jump.

Because Gretchen broke down sobbing, screaming that it was all her fault, that if anyone should die it should be her.

She ran downstairs with her swollen belly and threw herself into traffic.

I ran after her on instinct.

The moment the car was about to hit her, the part of me that still loved her made me reach out and shove her out of the way.

I was rushed into emergency surgery. They replaced nearly every drop of blood in my body before they managed to keep me alive.

But I was left permanently disabled, and I would never be a father.

Outside my room, Gretchen knelt on the floor, begging, her voice cracked and trembling as she asked what she could possibly do to earn my forgiveness.

I used every ounce of strength I had left to say one sentence.

"Gretchen, I will never forgive you. Not unless you're dead."

I lay in the ICU for three days.

On the third day, I was transferred to a regular ward. The first thing I did was have a lawyer draft a divorce agreement and a family severance document.

But before I could send either one out,

the news arrived first: Gretchen and Rex were dead. A lovers' suicide pact.

My parents burst into my room like they'd lost their minds and dragged me off the hospital bed,

calling me a murderer, a curse on the family.

My in-laws collapsed against the doorframe, fingers shaking as they pointed at me and screamed:

"You drove your brother and Gretchen to their deaths!"

"Why couldn't it have been you who died, you jinx?! You killed them! You'll rot for this!"

The scene drew a crowd of bystanders in the hospital. Someone filmed it and posted it online.

"Apparently this guy accused his own wife of cheating with his brother. She was heavily pregnant and he tried to force her into an abortion and a divorce. Then he got hit by a car. His wife was on her knees outside his room begging him not to leave her, and he told her to go die."

"His brother had depression and couldn't take the stress. So the brother and the wife drove off a cliff together. Said it was to atone..."

Fragments of the truth, twisted just enough to set the entire internet on fire.

Everyone called me delusional, psychotic, said I'd killed my own child, driven my wife and brother to their deaths.

My parents signed the family severance papers with bloodshot eyes, then looked at me and said coldly:

"You killed our son. Someone like you doesn't deserve to be called our son."

My father-in-law and mother-in-law were merciless, pouring every ounce of their grief onto me.

They hired men to drag me straight out of the hospital,

break my legs, strip me, and dump me on the side of the road.

Before they left, they held up photos of me at my most wretched and said:

"The people who hired us told us that as long as you're suffering, they're satisfied."

"You'd better keep your head down and stay invisible. If you so much as try to find a job, these photos go viral."

I gathered my clothes in numb silence, dragging my shattered legs behind me,

and fled to a remote small town like a rat driven from the gutter. I survived by picking through trash.

Five full years. It wasn't until I collapsed on the roadside and someone brought me to a hospital that I learned the truth: I had HIV.

The doctor reviewed my medical history. The sympathy in his voice was unmistakable:

"I'm so sorry, sir. Based on your records, I believe you were infected through a contaminated blood transfusion years ago. Rest assured, a medical incident this severe will be reported immediately. You will get answers."

"Your body is critically depleted, and multiple complications have already set in. At this rate, you have a month at most. You need to transfer to a specialized facility right away. There may still be a chance."

I laughed. I just started laughing, and then the tears came.

"No need. This is good. I'm finally going to die."

I'd killed my brother and my wife.

Now, at last, I could pay for it with my life.

At last, I could live out whatever was left in peace.

But even death wouldn't let me go quietly.

The complications hit all at once.

I vomited blood constantly, the pain so unbearable I'd collapse on the ground, panting like a dying animal.

Even the doctor's eyes were red when he urged me to take the strongest painkillers available.

But a single pill cost over a hundred dollars. How could I possibly afford that?

The hospital staff took pity on me and found me a job caring for a terminally ill dementia patient.

I thought I would die like that. Quietly. Without a ripple.

I never expected that in the final stretch of my life, I would stumble onto a lie that had destroyed everything.

But I had no strength left to hate. No strength left to resent.

All I wanted was to walk through my last ten days with whatever dignity and silence I could hold onto.

...

I returned to the ward without a word, carrying a clean basin to change out for the old man.

But my parents came back. They grabbed my hand.

"Your brother's lost too much blood! You're the only one whose blood type matches his! You need to come with us right now for a transfusion!"

I stood where I was. Didn't move.

"I'm not going."

"I can't give him my blood."

A blank look crossed my parents' faces, just for a second, before fury took over.

"Your brother is like this because of YOU! He's in hemorrhagic shock! You won't give him blood? You want to watch him die?"

"I know what this is. You're still holding a grudge over the accident five years ago, aren't you? Over Rex and Gretchen? You're the one who threw yourself in front of that car! What right do you have to blame them?"

I said nothing.

My mother seized my hand, her voice caught somewhere between rage and begging:

"If you want revenge, take it out on me! I'll get on my knees and knock my head on the floor if that's what it takes! Just spare your brother! He's already suffered enough!"

I turned my head away, swallowing the bitterness down.

"I need to get back to work."

Gretchen stepped in front of me and knocked the basin out of my hands.

"A job emptying bedpans. You think that matters more than your brother's life!"

Her expression went cold. She pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Fire Maxwell Swanson."

She hung up and looked at me, utterly detached.

"Now will you go donate blood? You have one minute. Get your things and come."

I stood there for a moment, then turned in silence and walked toward the exit.

Nurse Aide Dolores grabbed my arm. Her eyes were red.

"You can't leave. You need this paycheck for your medication. Without it, the pain alone will kill you!"

Dr. Barrett came running after me, eyes rimmed red.

He pulled a small blister pack of pills from his pocket and pressed it into my hand.

"Painkillers. Don't ration them. Just... make the last stretch comfortable."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

I went back to my run-down rental.

Closed the door. Leaned against the wall. Slid down to the floor.

My chest kept tightening in waves.

The taste of blood crept up the back of my throat.

I pulled out the pills and clenched them in my fist. I was about to swallow them dry when—

BANG.

The door flew open under a single kick, and someone seized a fistful of my hair.

My mother's hand came down. One slap after another, so hard my vision went black.

"You vile little bastard! How can you be this cruel?"

My father's boot drove into my stomach. I doubled over, unable to breathe.

"You'd go this far just to hurt your brother!"

"Are you even human?! To get back at Rex, you deliberately took blood from an HIV patient and tried to give it to him!"

"If someone hadn't tipped us off, you would've killed your own brother!"

They dragged me forward. My back scraped across the bare floor, burning.

I opened my mouth. The words came out broken.

"I didn't..."

Behind them, Rex watched me with a weak, sickly face and triumph in his eyes.

He let out a sudden gasp.

"Wait... maybe it wasn't him using someone else's blood to hurt me..."

He held up his phone, his hand shaking.

"I just saw the report. It's... it's Maxwell himself. He's the one infected with HIV."

The air froze solid.

My parents stopped moving.

Gretchen's gaze snapped to me.

"You... what did you just say?"

My mother's voice trembled, laced with bone-deep revulsion.

"Maxwell, what the hell have you been doing out there?!"

My father's face twisted with disgust.

"How could the Swanson family produce someone like you! You're already... like this, and you still had the nerve to try donating blood to Rex?! You did it on purpose!"

I lay on the floor, shaking all over.

My mouth was open, but no sound came out.

"No... I never gave him my blood..."

Rex let out another cry.

"Look at this!"

He held out his phone, his voice cracking into a sob.

"All these years out there, Maxwell... the photos of you messing around with those lowlifes, they've been posted online..."

On the screen were photos, blurry and garish.

Photos taken the night those thugs dragged me into an alley.

Gretchen snatched the phone away.

"Maxwell. How did you become this?"

I couldn't speak anymore.

Rex walked over, face full of concern, reaching down as if to help me up. His voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear.

"You will never compete with me again, Maxwell. Not in this lifetime."

"How does it feel being an HIV patient? You should thank me for going out of my way to buy infected blood and swap out your transfusion bag."

I forced my eyes open and stared at him through the pain.

"Why? Why would you do something like this?"

He let out a quiet laugh.

"No reason. I just hated having a little brother who'd take a share of what should've been mine."

Then he let out a piercing scream, clutching his face and staggering backward.

"Max! How could you spit blood on my face?"

Rex sobbed, his voice cracking with every word.

"It's my fault... Even if you infected me, even if I die, I deserve it! But I have two children! If I'm infected, Gretchen and the kids will catch it too! What happens to them?!"

"Mom, Dad, he's this vindictive now. If we bring him back home, what if he..."

Dad pulled out his phone. His voice was final.

"We'll send him to Greenfield Treatment Center. He won't be coming out. Not in this lifetime."

Gretchen watched me in silence, something unreadable in her eyes, but she said nothing.

Several people walked in from the hallway and hauled me to my feet.

Neighbors poked their heads out along the corridor, whispering and pointing.

Gretchen stood in the doorway. She spoke quietly.

"Go get treated. I'll come visit you... When you're better, I'll bring you home."

I looked at her and laughed, tears pooling at the corners of my eyes.

But I didn't have a "when."

A metallic sweetness rose in my throat.

Blood surged out of my mouth.

My whole body hit the ground hard.