“Who?” I asked, lowering my voice to a bare murmur.

“Everyone,” he said, his voice cracking. “In this house. Don’t… trust anyone.”

He coughed, a weak, wet sound that shook his entire frame.

The monitor beeped even faster.

“They did this to me,” he whispered.

The words chilled me to the bone.

My mind raced back to my father’s debts, Vivian’s cold demands, and Jason’s false smiles.

“Who did this, Ethan?” I asked, leaning closer until my ear was inches from his lips.

“Jason,” he breathed. “And… grandmother.”

A heavy silence seemed to fall over the room, broken only by the frantic monitor.

“They think I’m dead weight,” he whispered, his eyelids fluttering as if staying open took immense effort. “If they know… I’m awake… they’ll finish it.”

I looked at the door.

The hallway outside was quiet, but the nurse’s station was just down the corridor.

The monitor’s alarm was about to trigger a system alert.

“How do I stop the alarm?” I asked quickly, panic rising in my chest.

“The blue button,” he muttered, his head sinking deeper into the pillow. “Override.”