Chapter 3

3: 3

Less than ten minutes after the call ended, the old couple came rushing in.

“Glen! You worthless piece of trash!"

The second Eva Dickerson was through the door, she flew at Glen and slapped him hard across the face.

“What kind of mess have you gotten into out there?"

“You'd hand over the house to cover a debt, and push Deborah to divorce you?"

Jackson Dickerson's face was dark too. “This school-district home is for Katherine's schooling, and nothing else!"

“It's this whole family's lifeline! You lay one finger on it and see what happens!"

Glen didn't dodge or flinch. He took the blows, one after another.

“Dad! Mom! I don't owe any money!"

“But this house has to be sold!"

“That's a load of crap!"

Eva was shaking with rage. She snatched the broom by the door and started swinging it at Glen.

But right then, our daughter, who'd been huddled in the corner the whole time, suddenly burst into loud sobs:

“Grandma, don't hit my dad!"

“It's not his fault, it's my mom, she set the AC down by one degree!"

The words landed, and my heart shot up into my throat all over again.

I couldn't be sure my in-laws wouldn't turn on me the same way the others had.

Eva froze with her hand still in the air, then turned to look at Katherine.

“What did you say? The AC?"

Her brows knit together, her whole face baffled:

“So what if the AC's a degree lower?"

“Are we so short on money we can't cover a few dollars of electricity? Is that any reason for your dad to smash up the house and sell it?"

Hearing that, I finally let out a breath,

and the tears came pouring out like a dam had broken.

Thank God!

At least Eva still had her head on straight.

I was trembling all over with how wronged I felt, gripping Eva's hand tight:

“Mom, you think it's insane too, right!"

“Just because I turned the AC down one degree,"

“the two of them went crazy and decided to sell the house."

Eva patted the back of my hand. “This is unbelievable,"

“Deborah, don't be scared. Your mom's here today. Let's see who dares—"

“Wait!"

Jackson, who hadn't said a word this whole time, suddenly cut Eva off with a shout.

He jerked his hand up, pointing at the AC panel on the wall.

“Woman! One degree lower!"

“Did you forget? The AC's been set one degree lower!"

“What's gotten into you, hollering like that—"

Eva flapped her hand at him, annoyed. But before she could finish,

she followed Jackson's line of sight and got a clear look at the AC panel.

The next second, a violent shudder went through her whole body.

“One degree lower... it really is one degree lower..."

She sucked in a sharp breath and shoved me straight to the floor.

“You little menace! Who told you to go and touch the AC!"

It hit me like a bolt out of the sky. I went rigid on the spot.

Jackson threw down the broom and snatched the suitcase out of Glen's hands:

“What are you standing there for! Forget packing clothes, leave it!"

“Glen, you got the IDs? Move, now!"

Eva, in a blind panic, grabbed Katherine by the hand:

“Go, go, go! Get out of here!"

“We can't keep this house, no matter what!"

I completely fell apart, scrambling up on unsteady legs,

“Dad, Mom! What in the world has gotten into you all!"

“We bled ourselves dry to buy this house!"

“Back then, to scrape together the down payment, you two even handed over your retirement savings!"

“And now, just because some stupid AC is set a degree lower,"

“you're throwing it away, just like that? On what grounds!"

Jackson shoved me aside in a furious frenzy.

“You want to get yourself killed, fine, but don't drag the whole family down with you!"

Eva was even more frantic. She bolted straight out the door: “Hurry, hurry! Before Prime Living Realty closes for the day,"

“we're going over there right now to sell the house!"

The moment I heard that,

a flash of white light went off in my head.

Prime Living Realty!

Wasn't Glen's sister, Stacy Dickerson, working at that exact real estate agency?!

No wonder Glen was so dead set on selling the house cheap.

No wonder the in-laws were running a good-cop, bad-cop routine.

It had to be my sister-in-law, brainwashing the whole family to hit her sales quota!

The thought hit me, and I threw my arms wide across the doorway.

“Nobody's leaving!"

I pointed at Glen through gritted teeth,

“Stacy put you all up to this, didn't she?"

“She'll scam her own brother out of his house just to make money,"

“and you'd cook up this kind of nonsense just to help her!"

Glen was stunned, then shouted in a panic: “What are you talking about!"

“This has nothing to do with Stacy. I'm trying to save this family's lives!"

“Save lives? Fine, then let the cops come take a look,"

“and see whether it's saving lives or fraud!"

With that, I didn't hesitate. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

Glen saw it and lunged at me like a madman: “Deborah, what are you doing! Don't call the police!"

I shouted into the phone the moment it connected:

“Hello, Officer, I want to report a crime!"

“My sister-in-law, to earn her agent's commission,"

“brainwashed my whole family into forcing me to dump my school-district home for next to nothing. I want to press fraud charges against her!"