Darn Stupid Brother You Are by Mairee

Chapter 89 (Angel's POV) The fluorescent lights in the hallway buzzed faintly as I walked past the administrative wing of the center. It wasn't a place patients were supposed to be, but I'd learned how to avoid prying eyes. I wasn't looking for trouble this time. I just needed air, space, anything to quiet the noise in my head.

That's when I heard it.

I paused mid-step, and my ears pricked at the sound of voices drifting from an open door. It wasn't loud, but it was enough to makefreeze. I recognized one of the voices immediately-pompous, commanding, unmistakable. Dr. Joe. "...and the inspections?" he asked in a calm but clipped tone, like he didn't have tfor nonsense.

The other voice made my breath hitch. My mom. Dennis.

"Dr. Aurora toldit's been decided it's scheduled for next week," she replied sharply. She sounded so...professional. "But you need to understand, these aren't routine checks. They're coming to evaluate everything-your treatments, your financial records, even the patients." I leaned closer to the slightly ajar door, careful not to make a sound. My heart pounded in my chest as I strained to hear.

Dr. Joe chuckled softly but it was devoid of humor. "You sound nervous, Dennis." "Shouldn't I be?" she shot back, sounding uncomfortable and frustrated. "If they find any discrepancies, it won't just be my non the line." There was a pause. I could almost picture Dr. Joe leaning back in his chair with that smug smirk on his face. "You worry too much," he said finally. "Everything is under control." "Is it?" Dennis countered. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like things are getting out of control...out of your hands. Patients are getting restless, staff are talking, and-" She stopped abruptly, as if catching herself before saying too much.

"And?" Dr. Joe prompted amusingly.

Dennis hesitated. "And Angel is still there," she said quietly.

My blood ran cold.

"Your daughter," Dr. Joe said, drawing out the words like he was savoring them. "Yes, I've noticed. She's... inquisitive." Dennis sighed wearily. "She's more than that. She's stubborn and reckless. If she gets too close to the truth-" "She won't," Dr. Joe interrupted smoothly. "She's just another patient, Dennis. One of many. Don't let your personal ties cloud your judgment." "Don't patronize me, Joe," Dennis snapped. "You know why I agreed to this. Why I sent her there. But if she " "Dennis." His voice turned cold and slienced her protest. "You don't need to remindof our arrangement. I haven't forgotten." My stomach churned. What arrangement? Why was my mom talking to Dr. Joe like this? And why did it sound like she was more involved in this nightmare than I'd realized? "I just don't want her to go through what I went through," she said suddenly as her voice dropped to a near whisper.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Leave Angel to me," Dr. Joe said finally; his tone was softer but no less menacing. "Focus on the inspection. And Dennis?" "Yes?" "Remember who's in charge." (Dennis's POV) I ended the call and set the phone down. My hands were still trembling slightly. I clenched them into fists to steady myself, but the tension in my chest wouldn't ease.

The room felt too small and suffocating. I walked to the window and stared out, imagining it as the center's perfectly manicured lawn. It looked so peaceful, so deceivingly normal. But I knew better.

My reflection stared back atfrom the glass-cold, stern, unshaken. The face of someone who had made too many compromises. Someone who had traded her soul for survival.

I thought about Angel, her hot spirit, her ever growing determination. She remindedtoo much of myself, and that terrified me. That place had a way of breaking people like her. People like me. Dr. Joe's annoyingly unforgiving voice echoed in my mind. "Remember who's in charge." I hated him. I hated the power he and Aurora held over me, over all of us. But most of all, I hated the part ofthat had allowed it. The part that had made the deal in the first place.

My thoughts drifted back to the beginning, to the day I first set foot in that center. I had been desperate, broken, and he had seen it. He had exploited it.

I shook my head as I tried to push the memories away. They were too painful, too raw. But they refused to be ignored.

Angel didn't know the truth. She couldn't. If she found out... I couldn't let her. Not yet.

I turned away from the window while my mind raced. The inspection was coming, and the stakes were higher than ever. than ever had to keep everything in line, had to make sure no one saw the cracks. Because if they did, it wouldn't just bewho paid the price. It would be Angel, too. And I couldn't hear that.

(Angel's POV)

I quickly slipped away from the hallway. My heart was loudly pounding in my chest. My mind was a mess of questions and fears. What the hell had I just overheard? Why was my mom talking to Dr. Joe like that? And what did she mean about not wantingto go through what she went through? I tried to piece it together, but nothing made sense. My mom had always been strict, controlling, but this... this was something else. This was personal. Intimate.

I clenched my fists. I had chere to help Hendrix, to figure out what this place was hiding. But now it felt like was drowning in Secrets, and my own mother was at the center of it all. I needed answers. And I wasn't going to stop until I got them.