As though my grandmother’s life savings were simply a family resource they had decided how to spend.

I said no.

I will keep the rest of that night brief, for the reasons I have already given.

The refusal was met first with insults, and then, when the insults did not move me, with violence.

I ended up on the floor of my own dining room, with my arms wrapped around my own body, trying to make myself small.

I remember Amber leaning down close to my ear and telling me, quietly, that I would not be leaving that house until I signed the papers.