Chapter 202

The flat is quiet when Elias gets back, which could mean his mother is asleep or could mean she is sitting in the dark being angry, and the difference matters.

He knocks on her door. Nothing. He pushes it open.

His mother is sitting up in bed with a glass in her hand and the bottle on the nightstand, and the glass is not full, which means it has not been full recently. Elias crosses the room in four steps and takes it from her hand before she can argue about it.

“Give me back–”

“The doctor told you specifically,” he interrupts sternly, setting the glass on the dresser well out of reach and turning back to her. “He said it twice. Your kidneys are already damaged and mixing alcohol with the medication will accelerate it. I was there for that conversation, Mom, I heard it.”

She makes a dismissive sound with her breath. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It matters.”

“It doesn’t,” she says, “because I’m not taking the medication anyway, so the mixing issue i