Chapter 4

I pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

Mom's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?"

"Calling the police."

Her face drained of color and she lunged at me, trying to grab the phone. "Don't you dare!"

I stepped out of her reach and said into the phone, "I need to report a trespassing and an assault."

Dylan's expression changed. "Alan, have you lost your goddamn mind?"

I ignored him and gave them the address.

The police showed up ten minutes later. A group of neighbors had already gathered in the hallway to watch. When the officers questioned Dylan, he was still trying to talk his way out of it.

"I'm his brother! Since when is it a crime to discipline your own family?"

The officer frowned. "I don't care who you are. You put your hands on someone, that's assault."

Mom started crying. "Officer, please, this is a family matter. It's really not that serious."

Dad spoke up too, his tone noticeably softer than before. "The boys got a little carried away. We'll handle it at home. Sorry to waste your time."

The officer turned to me. "Sir, how would you like to proceed?"

The handprint was still bright red across my face. I looked at Dylan. There was anger in his eyes, and a warning, but not a single trace of remorse.

"I want to press charges. I want this documented," I declared.

Dylan ended up at the station giving a statement. Mom and Dad followed him there.

As Mom was leaving, she turned back to look at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

"You really have no idea how to be part of a family."

I didn't say a word and just closed the door.

The next day, I didn't go to work. My face was so swollen there was no way to hide it.

That afternoon, my phone buzzed. It was Connor.

"Alan, check the company Slack right now."

My stomach dropped. I opened it and found the channel had blown up with over 99 unread messages.

Someone had posted a photo. It was my mom, standing outside the office building, holding up a sign.

The sign read in big block letters, "Alan Jori Abandoned His Parents. Shame On Him!"

Underneath in smaller print, she had written that I forgot where I came from after getting married, that I let my parents go hungry, that I drove my sister-in-law out of the house, and that I called the cops on my own brother.

People in the channel were tagging me.

"Alan, is that your mom?"

"Is this for real? You don't take care of your own parents?"

"She seems like such a sweet old lady. She's been standing out there all afternoon and a bunch of people have stopped to look."

"Alan, you want to explain this?"

My hands started shaking.

Connor messaged me privately. "Don't come in. HR is already on it. They sent security down to talk to your mom, but she won't leave. She keeps crying and telling everyone you've disowned her."

I didn't reply.

A little while later, HR messaged me directly.

"Alan, we have a general picture of what's going on. The situation is creating some problems for the company. There's a big crowd gathering downstairs, and someone already filmed it and posted it online.

"Why don't you take a few days off and we'll figure things out once this settles down."

The wording was gentle, but I knew exactly what it meant. "Take a few days off" was just a polite way of suspending me.

I replied with a single "Okay".

Then I checked the local news, and sure enough, the video was already circulating. The headline read, "Company Employee Accused of Abandoning Elderly Mother, Who Protests Outside His Office."

The comments were vicious.

"How does someone like that still have a job?"

"Fire him!"

"Imagine raising a son like that. They should've gotten a dog instead."

I read through them one by one, and each one left me a little colder than the last. These were my own family members, and they were trying to destroy me.

Right then, Brooke called and said, "Come to Crestwood."

I nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "Okay."

I booked a train ticket to Crestwood as fast as I could and sent in my resignation at the same time. I was done with all of it.

I was leaving behind everything in that city.