I looked at him with a cold smile. "Call them. I dare you."
He wavered. So I pulled out my own phone and dialed.
"Yuxin International Residences, Building 4. Someone's beaten up an elderly couple."
The color drained from Cedric's face.
"I didn't assault anyone! They were hogging the chargers. I was standing up for the rest of us."
I pointed at the cut on my father's forehead, the blood barely dried, and my mother's wrist, swollen up like a bun.
"If you didn't touch them, where'd these injuries come from?"
"Standing up for everyone? You don't get to decide that. Save it for the cops."
My parents stood behind me. My father looked at the property management people, who hadn't shown an ounce of reason.
"Good. Let the police come and tell us who's right and who's wrong."
Manager Fox jabbed a finger practically against my father's nose and started yelling.
"Look, if you two hadn't insisted on hogging the EV charging stations, you think Cedric would've had to hit you?"
"And you, at your age, you're going to follow your clueless daughter and make a scene?"
"A scene?" My father's voice was steady. "My daughter's right. We spent our own money on those chargers. We're the ones who got beaten. And the people who did it won't even apologize. Where in the world is that fair?"
He gripped my hand tight. "Shelagh, Dad's been keeping his head down too long. Always told myself we're all neighbors, no point in making trouble. But not today. Today we set this right."
My father had been a pushover his entire life.
If even he was standing up now, he must have been choking on this one.
By then, nearly every charger in the complex had been torn out.
The residents' group chat was blowing up.
Despite the cold snap, a crowd had gathered below Building 4 to watch.
"Shelagh Dickerson, you've gone too far! Tell your people to stop right now. When the police get here, this won't go well for you."
Manager Fox glared at me, teeth clenched.
Seeing him on the verge of losing it only made me pick up my phone and call John.
"John, pick up the pace. Everything out in thirty minutes. I'll double the crew's pay."
Sirens grew louder in the distance. Cedric's face twisted with panic.
"Manager Fox, you have to back me up. I didn't assault them. I was just trying to do the right thing for the community."
Manager Fox reassured him. "Relax, Cedric. A community-minded resident like you—this complex won't let you down."
Listening to them flip the story inside out sent a chill straight through me.
Cedric had beaten my parents. And now he was the community-minded resident.
Looked like ripping out every last charger was the right call after all.
When John's crew pushed through the crowd to start on Building 4's chargers, Cedric puffed himself up and tried to block them.
"You sure you want to get in their way? These guys are young and strong—not like my elderly parents. You interfere with their work, things get physical, and I can't promise how that ends for you."
He took one look at John holding a sledgehammer and a pry bar, and every drop of bravery drained out of him.
He backed up several steps.
Manager Fox—that gutless dog who only ever picked on the weak—was hollering from the back of the crowd, trying to stop them.
But he didn't dare take a single step closer.
"All done, Boss Dickerson. What do you want us to do with the parts?"
"Call the scrap yard. Have them pick everything up as soon as possible."
Seeing I wasn't going to budge, all Manager Fox could do was stomp his feet.
"The police are here! Everyone move aside, let them set things right for us!"
Someone in the crowd shouted, and Manager Fox latched onto it like a drowning man.
He turned on me, vicious. "Shelagh Dickerson, you brought this on yourself. You'll regret this."
"When you've lost everything you own paying for this, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself."
Two officers arrived, a man and a woman.
"Who called this in?"
I raised my hand. The female officer stepped forward to examine my parents' injuries.
