2: 2
The moment I pushed open my own door, I thought I'd walked onto the wrong set.
My apartment, the one I'd paid for in full, was a circus.
My father sat on the main sofa, smoking. My mother had a hand pressed to her chest, moaning and carrying on.
And my useless brother, Howard Dickerson, stood there holding a glass of water, coaxing Carol in a low, groveling voice while she dabbed at her eyes beside him.
The second I stepped in, my father slammed the coffee table so hard the ashtray jumped.
"On your knees!"
He jabbed a finger at my face and started cursing.
"You cold-blooded animal! Your sister-in-law's family throws a celebration, and you run over to wreck it? You're out to ruin your own brother's marriage, is that it!"
I kept changing my shoes, cold and unhurried.
"Her family's party has nothing to do with me. She's the one who taught her son to kneel and beg for money. All I did was hand him a bowl."
"You dare talk back!"
My mother took the cue and collapsed against the sofa, gasping for breath, putting on a better performance than any of them.
"What did I do to deserve this! How did I raise a home-wrecker like you! This heart of mine is going to give out one day, all because of you..."
I didn't even lift an eyelid.
The old "cry, scream, then fake an illness" combo. I'd been immune to it for years.
"Enough. Drop the act."
I tossed my bag onto the entry cabinet and walked straight up to them. "Just say it. What's today's show actually for?"
Howard stood up, dug a crumpled sheet of letter paper out of his pocket, and slapped it down on the coffee table.
"Katherine, since you've laid it all out, I won't beat around the bush either."
His face said the whole thing was perfectly reasonable.
"Because of what you did today, you humiliated your sister-in-law in front of her whole family. Carol says as long as you sign this and the money comes through, she won't divorce me."
I walked over and scanned it, so absurd it dragged a laugh out of me.
The agreement spelled it out in black and white.
One: transfer fifty thousand to Carol's account immediately, as emotional damages.
Two: by dark tomorrow, buy Dylan a big gold pendant worth no less than fifty thousand.
A hundred grand.
Did they think I was an ATM, or a turtle in a wishing pond they could keep tossing coins at?
"And if I don't sign?"
I stared straight into Howard's eyes.
"Don't sign?"
Howard sneered and started jiggling his leg, all swagger. "Don't sign, and tomorrow we show up at your company and make a scene! Hang banners, go straight to your boss! Let everyone see what an ungrateful backstabber you are!"
"That's right!"
With that behind her, Carol shot to her feet and pointed at me. "Katherine, you're a woman. Once your name's dirt, let's see how you survive in this city! A hundred grand to buy some peace, you're getting off cheap!"
They were betting I wouldn't dare risk this well-paid job.
And betting even harder that, to make it all go away, I'd cave in the end.
Too bad they'd miscalculated on one thing.
I picked up the agreement and, right in front of them, tore it to shreds.
"Go make your scene. If you don't, you're the coward."
While the whole family gaped, I pulled out my phone, dialed 911, and put it on speaker.
"Hello, 911? I've got several people who've broken into my home. Right now they're using a fake agreement to extort a hundred thousand from me. Yes, the address is..."
"Are you insane!"
My father shot up off the sofa in fright, his cigarette dropping from his hand.
My mother dropped the heart-attack act too, springing up to snatch my phone.
I stepped back and watched the whole clownish crew with cold eyes.
"The officers will be here in five minutes. You want to get out now, or go have a nice chat down at the station?"
Howard's face went ashen. Carol shook all over with rage.
But under the threat of that call, none of them had the nerve to stay and fight it out.
Howard dragged Carol, still cursing, toward the door.
At the door, Carol stopped short, turned, and fixed me with a stare.
Cold and venomous as a snake.
"Fine, Katherine. You just wait!"
She ground the words out through her teeth. "You'll see what I do to you!"
The door slammed shut with a bang.
I leaned back against it and rubbed at my brow, worn out.
This family of pieces of work. I really was done waiting on them.
