At 3 A.M., My Brother Dragged Me Out of My Bedroom While Dad Laughed—He Had No Idea What the Smoke Detector Had Recorded

“Come back to the house after you calm down, and we can discuss dropping the complaint.”

I stopped packing.

There it was.

A place to stay.

In exchange for withdrawing the official process.

Douglas didn’t present it as a bargain.

He called it restoring peace.

I looked at him.