Chapter 5 - The Desperate Phone Calls
My phone began ringing incessantly at five o'clock that evening. Brooke had finally read through the legal summons and realized the sheriff’s deputies were not bluffing. The voicemail she left was a frantic, breathless mess of anger and panic. She screamed that I couldn't throw a pregnant woman onto the street, that I was a heartless monster, and that she had nowhere to go. Ten minutes later, my mother called, shifting rapidly from furious demands to pathetic pleading. She claimed she had high blood pressure, that the stress was going to kill her, and that I was destroying the family over a few dusty garage items.
I sent a single, calculated response via a group text with Marcus included on the thread: All communication must go through my attorney. Do not call my personal phone again. The locks will be changed precisely at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Any property remaining inside the home that is not personal clothing will be placed in storage at your expense.
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Within minutes, extended relatives began chiming in. An aunt I hadn't spoken to in three years sent an essay about sisterly forgiveness and the sanctity of blood ties. A cousin messaged claiming that family should never involve law enforcement. I didn't engage in their manufactured drama. Instead, I sent each of them a screenshot of Brooke’s Marketplace listing showing Daniel’s sailboat priced at twenty-five dollars alongside a picture of Noah crying in his empty room. Alongside the images, I attached a simple message: Brooke and Mom are looking for a new place to stay. Since you care so deeply about family unity, I assume you will be opening your guest room to them tomorrow morning.
The silence that followed was deafening. Not a single relative offered their spare room. Not one aunt or cousin stepped forward to take Brooke and her upcoming baby in. The righteous lectures vanished instantly the moment taking the high road required opening their own wallets and sharing their own living space. It was the ultimate confirmation of what Daniel had always tried to show me: their grand moralizing was nothing more than cheap theater designed to keep me bearing the family burden so they wouldn't have to.
