“So you kept taking from an old man who trusted you?”
Michael looked up, desperation creeping into his face.
“I gave him money sometimes.”
“Scraps?” Daniel snapped. “You gave him scraps while you built this?”
He gestured around the luxurious room.
“While he was starving? While he was in traffic selling water?”
Their father sat quietly between them, his hands resting on his knees, his eyes tired.
“You told me Daniel abandoned us,” he said softly.
Michael flinched.
“I… I didn’t want him to come back,” he admitted.
The words landed like a slap.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Michael swallowed.
“Because if he came back, everything would be exposed.”
There it was.
The truth—raw and ugly.
Daniel nodded slowly, as if confirming something inside himself.
“So you isolated him,” he said. “You cut communication. You intercepted letters, calls, money.”
Michael did not answer.
He did not need to.
The silence said enough.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Do you understand what you did?” he asked quietly.
Michael’s voice shook.
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
Daniel cut him off.
“A mistake happens once. You did this for twelve years.”
The room went quiet again. Even the air felt heavy.
“I’m sorry,” Michael whispered.
Daniel stared at him.
And for a second—just a second—there was something like hesitation in his eyes.
Because this was his brother.
The boy he grew up with.
The one he used to protect.
But then he remembered the image—his father in traffic, trembling under the sun.
And whatever softness was there disappeared.
“Sorry doesn’t fix this,” Daniel said.
Michael suddenly stood up.
“I’ll pay everything back,” he said quickly. “I’ll sell the house, the cars, everything. Just don’t involve the police.”
Daniel tilted his head slightly.
“You’re afraid now?”
Michael’s voice cracked. “I’ll lose everything.”
“You should,” Daniel said.
His father looked up then.
“Daniel.”
His voice was gentle.
“Careful.”
Daniel turned to him.
“He needs to face consequences.”
“He will,” his father replied quietly. “But he is still your brother.”
That word—brother—lingered in the air.
Daniel exhaled slowly, running a hand over his face.
This was not simple.
It never was.
Justice and family rarely aligned cleanly.
He looked back at Michael.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.”
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