That was all I needed to hear.
I walked straight past Gregory and entered the living room, where the teenage boys, Jacob and Daniel, sat motionless on the sectional sofa, surrounded by video game controllers, empty soda cans, and greasy pizza boxes.
On the mantel, where my mother had proudly displayed her favorite anniversary portrait with my father, someone had pushed the frame aside to make room for an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker.
Without a moment of hesitation, I pulled out my phone and called the local police department.
Gregory’s expression changed immediately as he realized exactly what I was doing.
“Who are you calling?” he demanded.
“I’m calling the police,” I replied.
“For what possible reason?” Fiona shrieked.
“I’m reporting trespassing, intimidation of elderly people, and whatever additional charges they decide to file after seeing the bru!ses around my mother’s wrist.”
Gregory moved toward me, his face darkening into an even deeper shade of red.
“You really don’t want to do something like that to your own family,” he warned.
I met his eyes without flinching.
“Take one more step toward me and find out what happens,” I said calmly.
He froze where he stood, obviously unsettled by the fact that I refused to show any fear.
Fiona’s voice became sharp with pan!c.
“Lucas, stop being absurd because we’re your own family.”
“No,” I answered coldly. “Mom and Dad are my family. You’re behaving like an ordinary trespasser who happens to carry our surname.”
The officers arrived exactly twelve minutes later.
By that point, Gregory had completely reinvented himself as an innocent man who appeared deeply offended.
Fiona cried on cue, telling the responding officers she had simply been trying to help her elderly parents relocate into a more practical living arrangement.
Then I handed an officer a copy of the property deed, the legal occupancy agreement my attorney had prepared, and printed security logs proving Gregory had changed the electronic door code two days earlier.
At last, my father found enough strength to speak clearly.
“He told me that if I refused to leave the main house, he would make sure Irene and I had nowhere else to live,” he told the officer.
The entire room fell silent again as the weight of his statement settled over everyone.
This time, Fiona didn’t laugh.
Officer Miller instructed everyone to sit down while she reviewed the situation.
For several seconds, nobody moved, trapped inside the heavy silence.
Gregory remained beside the fireplace, his jaw clenched tightly while his fists repeatedly opened and closed as though he were struggling to control violent impulses.
Fiona hovered near the kitchen, nervously shifting her gaze between me, the officers, and our parents.
Jacob and Daniel sat quietly, their faces drained of color, no longer resembling smug teenagers enjoying a free beachfront vacation.
Instead, they looked like children discovering that grown adults could des.troy a family faster than any natural dis@ster.