Chapter 1 - The Sound of Shattering Glass
The pale morning light barely cut through the kitchen window, but it was bright enough to illuminate the absolute terror draining every drop of color from Brandon’s face. He stood frozen on the threshold of my empty bedroom, his phone trembling between two fingers as if it were about to detonate.
Downstairs, the sharp crash of porcelain hitting the hardwood floor echoed through the stairwell, followed immediately by my mother’s shrill, panicked shriek.
“Send what?” Dad demanded again, his voice cracking with sudden, uncharacteristic fear as he shoved past Brandon and stared at my neatly stacked suitcases. He looked from the bags to me, then back at Brandon. “What did she send?”
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“The folder, Dad,” Brandon whispered, his voice hitching as a cold sweat broke across his forehead. “The federal tax audit disclosures, the scholarship embezzlement records... she sent the whole thing to the Ellison University ethics board, the local precinct, and the state probate judge.”
I zipped my suitcase shut, the metallic hiss of the teeth sounding like a small victory in the suffocating silence of the room. I didn't look at them. I didn't need to. The years of shrinking into myself, of swallowing my anger while my parents built an altar to their golden son, were officially over.
