“You made sure of that when you emptied my accounts.”

I remembered the day the university told me my tuition check had bounced.

I remembered the shame.

I remembered the confusion.

And then came the sickening realization of what my family had done.

All of it had been to protect Brandon’s secret life.

Now, the truth was sitting on a cheap oak coffee table.

“Sign it,” I said.

My mother stepped forward, her eyes wide with desperation.

“Richard, we cannot go to jail,” she cried.

“Think of what people will say.”

“Think of the firm.”

“Shut up, Eleanor!” my father roared.

He turned on her, his face turning a deep, angry red.

Brandon flinched, burying his face in his hands.

My father turned back to me.

His eyes were wild and bloodshot.

“I built this life,” he hissed.

“I built everything we have.”

“I will not let a disobedient child take it away from me.”

He stepped closer to the table.

His shadow fell over the blue folder.

His hands were shaking, clenching into tight fists.

Arthur kept his hand near his phone.