Chapter 3
The fight started over my laptop.
That sounds small.
It was not.
My laptop held my homework, scholarship essays, photos of my mom, and the video project I had been editing for my winter history class.
Cody had no password, so he was trying to guess mine.
When I reached for it, he pulled it away.
“Relax.”
“That’s mine.”
“Not anymore.”
I looked at Aunt Denise, who stood near the closet sorting my clothes into a trash bag.
“Tell him to give it back.”
She did not even look guilty.
“Cody needs it for school.”
“So do I.”
“You’re dramatic like your father.”
That sentence froze me.
People in my family always said “like your father” when they wanted to punish someone for having boundaries.
I grabbed the laptop.
Cody held on.
For a second, we both pulled.
Then Grandpa Richard walked in.
“What is going on?”
I said, “He took my laptop.”
Cody said, “She attacked me.”
That was all it took.
Grandpa looked at me like the verdict had been decided before trial.
“You are too old to throw tantrums.”
“It’s mine.”
“Everything in this house belongs to this family.”
“My dad bought it.”
Aunt Denise’s head snapped toward me.
Grandpa’s face went dark.
That was the sentence I was never supposed to say.
Everyone knew it.
No one admitted it.
Dad paid.
Grandpa ruled.
That was the arrangement.
“You ungrateful little girl,” Grandpa said.
I stepped back.
He pointed to the trash bag.
“Pack what is yours.”
“I live here.”
“Not anymore.”
Denise smiled then.
Small.
Satisfied.
Cody hugged the laptop to his chest and leaned in the doorway like he was watching a show.
I put clothes into the trash bag because I did not know what else to do.
Socks.
Jeans.
Hoodies.
A framed photo of Mom that Denise had already placed facedown on the dresser.
When I reached for it, Grandpa said, “Leave the frame.”
I took the photo out and folded it into my backpack.
By the time he marched me downstairs, my hands had gone numb from fear.
Not from the cold yet.
May you like
That came after he opened the front door.
Read the full story 👉 Cody took Emma’s laptop and Denise packed her clothes, but Richard only exploded when Emma said the truth: Daniel paid for the house.
