Chapter 2 - The Brother With the Perfect Smile
I didn’t drink the coffee.
At seven, I handed over my patients, walked into the employee restroom, and locked myself inside a stall.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Adrian knew where my mother lived.
That didn’t prove he had threatened her.
It proved he wanted me to imagine it.
There was a difference, and somehow the second possibility felt worse.
I called her.
“Clara? You’re up early.”
“Just finishing work. Everything okay?”
“Your sister’s coming over to fix the porch light.”
I closed my eyes.
My younger sister, Lucy, was twenty-two and believed every household problem could be solved with a video tutorial and unreasonable confidence.
“Tell her to wait until I get there.”
“Since when are you worried about lightbulbs?”
“Since she almost electrocuted herself fixing your blender.”
Mom laughed.
The ordinary sound nearly broke me.
Afterward, I went to the nursing supervisor.
I reported Adrian’s comment exactly.
No dramatic interpretation. No accusations I couldn’t support.
The supervisor, Denise Walker, listened without looking away.
“Did you feel threatened?”
“Yes.”
“Then we document that too.”
She helped me file an incident report and arranged for hospital security to escort me to my car.
For the first time since entering the private wing, I felt someone had remembered that I was also a person.
I slept badly.
At six that evening, Victor called through the hospital switchboard.
“Mr. Castellano has been asking for you.”
“He’s speaking?”
“A little.”
“What did the neurologist say?”
“That recovery will take time.”
“Then another nurse can care for him.”
A pause.
“You reported Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I sat up.
That wasn’t the response I expected.
Victor continued carefully.
“Don’t discuss this on your personal phone. Speak to your supervisor when you arrive.”
When I returned, Denise met me outside the wing.
Nicholas had demonstrated reliable responses during the day. His speech remained limited, and exhaustion came quickly, but a specialist had documented clear improvement.
His care team had changed.
Mercer was no longer directing his treatment.
“Nicholas requested an independent physician,” Denise explained. “His attorney helped arrange it.”
“His brother agreed?”
“His brother doesn’t make medical decisions for a patient who can make them himself.”
For some reason, that simple sentence steadied me.
Inside Room 412, Nicholas looked almost unchanged.
But his eyes followed me.
“You came.”
The words were rough and slow.
“It’s my shift.”
Something that might have been amusement touched his face.
I checked his chart and explained everything I did.
When I finished, he whispered, “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Adrian.”
I looked toward the camera.
“The hospital has rules about staff safety. I reported what happened.”
“Good.”
The same word Victor had used.
Nicholas swallowed with visible effort.
“Call Elena.”
“Your sister?”
His eyes closed briefly.
“Yes.”
I knew about Elena Castellano from the visitor log. She came twice a week, wore ordinary clothes, and left with red eyes.
Adrian called her emotional.
I was beginning to distrust his descriptions.
“I can ask the team to contact her.”
“Not him.”
“I understand.”
An hour later, Elena arrived with Nicholas’s attorney, Miriam Shaw.
Elena stopped in the doorway when she saw her brother watching her.
“Oh, Nico.”
She approached slowly, as though sudden movement might erase him.
He lifted one trembling finger.
She took his hand and cried without trying to hide it.
Miriam asked to speak with the attending physician.
I left to give them privacy.
Twenty minutes later, Adrian appeared.
He looked at the closed door.
“Why is my sister here?”
“Nicholas requested her.”
His smile vanished.
Only for a moment.
Then he looked at my badge.
“You’ve become very involved.”
Before I could answer, Denise stepped beside me.
“Mr. Castellano, please direct concerns about staffing to administration.”
“I’m speaking to Clara.”
“And I’m speaking to you.”
I could have hugged her.
Instead, I stood quietly while Adrian adjusted his cuff.
When he entered the room, Nicholas looked directly at him.
For the first time, the brothers faced each other awake.
Adrian smiled.
Nicholas didn’t.
Later, after everyone left, I opened the book on my phone.
“Would you like another chapter?”
He watched me for a long moment.
Then his lips moved.
“He was there.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“At the shooting?”
Nicholas’s breathing changed.
I reached for the call button.
He forced out three more words.
“Before the shots.”
May you like
The room seemed to tilt.
Outside the window, Chicago glittered as though nothing terrible had ever happened beneath its lights.
