“Take care of your sister,” it said. “She doesn’t have the stomach for this business, and you are the only one who can keep her safe.”

I read it over and over. My father knew. He knew Delbert was greedy, and he thought he was protecting me by giving him the power. He didn’t realize he was just giving him the weapon.

I am sitting here tonight looking at that letter, and I feel like the biggest fool in the world. I thought I was the victim of a bad brother. But as I read those lines again, I realize the man I loved, the man who was supposed to be my hero, had basically sold me out for a few extra acres.

He didn’t just steal my money. He stole my respect for the man who raised us.

The house is quiet again. I don’t think it will ever be home the same way it was before. I have the land, and soon I will have the money, but I don’t have the family I thought I had.

Delbert is still my brother. But he is a stranger to me now.

I keep looking at the front door, wondering if he will come back, or if he is just waiting for me to go away.

I don’t think he is coming back.

He knows I know.