Chapter 5 - Freezing the Well
My fingers moved swiftly across the screen. I had been an authorized user on every single linked sub-account, but because the primary social security number on the master banking profile belonged to me, I held total executive control over the routing lines.
""What are you doing?"" Brooke asked, her voice cracking with rising panic as her phone suddenly buzzed violently in her purse.
""I just removed myself as the guarantor on your cell phone account,"" I said calmly, looking directly into her eyes. ""Your service will disconnect in approximately fifteen minutes unless you put a credit card on file with the carrier. And since your credit score is in the mid-fifties, you’ll probably need a three-hundred-dollar deposit.""
Brooke shrieked, frantically unlocking her phone. ""Marcus, stop! Are you insane? I have an interview for a sales job tomorrow morning! I need my phone!""
""You better find a payphone,"" I replied without looking up.
Another tap of my thumb.
""Tessa,"" I said, looking at my middle sister, who was now clutching her chest like our mother. ""Your Honda Civic lease was co-signed by me two years ago because you promised you had a steady job at the dental clinic. You’ve defaulted three times, and every time, the automated deduction came out of my primary checking account. I just logged into the portal and transferred the primary obligation entirely to your name and revoked my automatic payment authorization. If you don't make the six-hundred-dollar payment by Friday, the repo truck will be outside your apartment by Monday morning.""
""You can't do that!"" Tessa screamed, jumping up from the recliner, her face contorting in rage. ""That's illegal! You signed the contract!""
""I co-signed as a guarantor,"" I said coldly. ""And as the primary payer, I have every legal right to unlink my bank account. Good luck dealing with Honda Financial.""
""Marcus Edward, you stop this right now!"" Darlene stood up, her finger shaking as she pointed it directly at my chest. ""You are acting like a monster! How dare you treat your sisters this way? What kind of a man abandons his family over a few stupid text messages?""
""I'm not abandoning my family, Mom,"" I said, taking a step toward her. ""My family is in that bedroom. My family is a woman who spent the last four hours on her swollen feet trying to keep you happy while you mocked her behind her back. My family is a baby boy named Noah who is going to be born into a home where his father isn't an exhausted doormat for four ungrateful leeches.""
I tapped the screen one final time.
""And as for the forty-five thousand dollars,"" I said, looking my mother dead in the eye, ""I just initiated an immediate administrative freeze on the account due to suspected unauthorized activity. Tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, when the branch opens downtown, I will be standing in front of the manager with copies of every single fraudulent transfer you made out of my personal paycheck over the last three years.""
My mother lunged forward, her nails digging into the sleeve of my work shirt, trying desperately to grab my phone. ""Give me that! You give me that phone right now, you ungrateful little bastard! That is my money! I earned that money by putting up with your useless father!""
I didn't shove her, but I pulled my arm back with enough force that she stumbled backward, landing heavily against the cushions of the sofa.
""Get out,"" I said.
The room went dead silent.
May you like
""What did you say?"" Darlene gasped, clutching her chest.
""I said get out of my apartment,"" I pointed toward the front door, which I walked over and swung wide open into the chilly night hallway. ""All four of you. Right now. If you aren't out of this building in sixty seconds, I am calling the police and reporting an active domestic disturbance and trespassing. And believe me, with the bruises on Hannah’s hands and the text messages on my phone, they won't be taking your side.""
