The very goodness that should have saved the family was the thing Santiago found most unbearable, because it left him no room to keep lying.

He did not murder his brother for hating him.

In a sense he destroyed him for loving him too honestly.

He gave Santiago the chance to save himself.

He simply would not let the crime be buried.

And for that, for offering his brother a week and a way back, he would be repaid in a manner so monstrous I still struggle to say it plainly.

Chapter 21 — The Drive