Chapter 4 - The Escalation
The next attack didn't come from my parents; it came from the shadows.
Two weeks had passed since the confrontation at my office. I had blocked my parents, Rachel, and Julian on all platforms. I had changed the locks on my apartment door, just in case any old spare keys were floating around from years ago. I felt like I was finally finding my rhythm again. The old sedan had been safely parked in my secure, gated apartment lot, and I was planning to sell it online the following weekend.
Then came Thursday night.
It was around 2:00 AM when my phone’s high-priority alert bypassed the "Do Not Disturb" mode. It was an automated call from my apartment building's security kiosk.
"Ms. Vance? This is Officer Torres at the front desk. We have a situation in the secure parking garage. There is a young man and a woman here claiming they have your permission to repossess a vehicle. They have a key, but they don't have a gate fob. They were trying to tail a resident through the gate."
I sat up in bed, my heart instantly racing. "What do they look like?"
"The male is mid-twenties, tall, blonde, wearing a baseball cap. The female is brunette, mid-thirties. They’re currently arguing with my partner near a silver sedan."
Julian and Rachel.
They had actually come to my home in the middle of the night to steal my old car. They must have found the old spare key hidden in my childhood bedroom desk drawer at my parents' house.
"Do not let them leave," I said, my voice shaking with a mix of fury and adrenaline as I threw off my covers and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. "I am coming down right now. And Officer Torres? Call the police. Tell them there is an active grand theft auto in progress."
"Understood, Ms. Vance. Calling PD now."
I grabbed my keys, my phone, and my leather folder containing the car titles, sprinting down the carpeted hallway of my floor to the elevator. My hands were trembling, not from fear, but from the absolute shock that my own siblings had descended to the level of common criminals. They were so blinded by their resentment, so convinced that my property belonged to them, that they were willing to risk jail time.
When the elevator doors opened into the brightly lit concrete parking garage, the scene was chaotic.
Julian was yelling at a younger security guard, waving a piece of paper in his face. Rachel was sitting in the driver’s seat of my old sedan, the engine running, her face pressed against the glass, looking terrified but stubborn. My new car was parked two stalls down, untouched.
"I told you, it’s my sister’s car!" Julian was shouting at the guard. "She gave it to her! We are just picking it up because she's unstable! Look, we have the key!"
"But you don't have the title, Julian," I said, my voice echoing off the concrete walls as I stepped out into the open.
Julian spun around, his eyes widening in surprise before quickly shifting back into an aggressive scowl. "Olivia! Thank god. Tell this rent-a-cop to back off. Rachel needs the car tonight. Mark’s lawyer sent a threat, and she needs to hide her assets or something. We came to get what you promised her."
"I promised her nothing," I said, walking right up to the driver's side window of the sedan. I tapped heavily on the glass. "Rachel! Get out of my car. Now."
Rachel rolled the window down an inch, her eyes wild. "Olivia, please! You don't understand! Mark found out about the new car deal falling through and he's threatening to take full custody of Maya and Leo tomorrow morning if I don't have a reliable vehicle to show the court investigator! I just need this one! You said it was mine!"
"I said it was yours two weeks ago, before you demanded my new one, insulted my life, and allowed Mom to slander my mental health online," I said, staring at her through the narrow crack. "The offer expired the moment you put those keys back on the kitchen island."
"You are destroying my life!" Rachel screamed, sobbing now, slamming her hands against the steering wheel. "It’s just a stupid car! You have two! Why do you get to have everything while I lose my kids?"
"She’s right, Liv," Julian stepped in, trying to put a hand on my shoulder. I slapped his hand away with a violent, resounding smack.
"Don't touch me, Julian. And don't play the protector. You're only here because Mom and Dad promised you something out of this, didn't they? What was your cut? Did they say they'd help with your house down payment if Rachel got her car problems solved without costing them anything?"
Julian's silence was his confession. His eyes dropped, confirming my suspicion. They had cut a deal. My destruction was a family business.
Suddenly, the distant wail of sirens echoed from the street above, growing louder by the second, accompanied by the flashing blue and red lights reflecting off the entrance ramp.
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Rachel’s eyes widened in sheer panic. "Olivia... what did you do?"
"I called the police," I said calmly. "Because two people broke into my private, gated residential garage to steal a vehicle that does not belong to them. That’s a felony, Julian. Both of you need to get out of the car and put your hands on the hood before those officers come down that ramp, or your house-hunting days are going to be spent in a state penitentiary."
