I Got a Second Chance, So I Stopped Saving My Brother Chapter 08

I Got a Second Chance, So I Stopped Saving My Brother Chapter 08

Mason changed after that day.

He stopped talking about physical therapy and kept the curtains drawn tight every day, refusing to let even a sliver of light into the room.

Whenever the home health aide tried to take him outside to get some sun, he cursed at the aide.

“Why should I go out looking like this? So you can all laugh at me?”

He smashed everything he could get his hands on.

He destroyed his basketball, guitar, trophies, and graduation photos beyond repair.

Those things had once been his greatest sources of pride. Now each one reminded him that he would never stand again.

My father could not stand it anymore, so he urged Mason to learn how to manage the books for the family’s building-supply store.

“Mason, you still have your mind. This family is still going to depend on you.”

Mason scoffed.

“Count on me? I can’t even get up the two steps outside the store. What exactly are you counting on me for?”

He swept the account books onto the floor.

“Stop pretending. All of you think I’m useless now, don’t you?”

My mother tearfully insisted that no one thought that.

The panic in her eyes told a different story.

Life had not been easy for Paige either.

Mason flew into a rage whenever he saw her.

One day, she brought a plate of fruit into his room, and he grabbed an apple and hurled it at her.

“You’re the talented performer, aren’t you? Go on. Sing for me.”

Paige went deathly pale.

She tried to run, but his wheelchair blocked her path.

He forced her to sing.

She managed two lines through her tears, her voice trembling so badly that she could barely hold a note.

Mason suddenly laughed.

“See? You don’t always look so perfect either.”

My mother stood in the doorway and watched the entire scene.

In the end, she said nothing.

The household staff knew exactly which way the wind was blowing.

Paige used to have someone wash her clothes, cut up her fruit, and even kneel down to tie her shoes for her.

Now no one treated her like the young lady of the house.

They did not call her to dinner until the food had gone cold, and her clothes were often left out of the laundry.

When she complained to my mother, all she got was, “Look at what your brother is going through. Stop making more trouble.”

Paige stood there in stunned silence.

It seemed she had finally realized that love could be withdrawn.

On the day senior finals ended, she packed a bag and tried to leave.

My father stopped her.

“What will people say about the Bennett family if you walk out now?”

With red-rimmed eyes, Paige demanded, “Then what do you expect me to do? Stay here and let him torment me every day?”

My father slapped her across the face.

Paige covered her cheek and suddenly laughed.

“So because I’m adopted, I really am nothing to you.”

The living room fell completely silent.

Upstairs, Mason’s bedroom door opened.

He emerged in his wheelchair, his eyes cold and menacing.

“You’re just figuring that out?”