Chapter 5 - The Family Line drawn
Word count: ~1,500 words
At 8:00 AM the following morning, my phone began ringing off the hook.
It wasn't work. It was my extended family from Baltimore.
Carmen had used her one allowed phone call from the county jail to call her older brother, Uncle Richard, and her sister, Aunt Beatrice. Within hours, the narrative had been spun: Zayden’s ungrateful wife had set Carmen up, lied to the police, and had his poor, elderly mother thrown into a jail cell.
I answered Uncle Richard’s call on speaker while making coffee in the kitchen.
"Zayden!" Richard’s booming voice blasted through the speaker. "What in the hell is wrong with you?! Your mother is sitting in a holding cell in Phoenix! She’s 62 years old with bad knees! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Good morning, Uncle Richard," I said coldly, taking a sip of black coffee.
"Don't 'good morning' me!" Richard snapped. "You post bail for your mother right now! I don't care what argument she had with your wife. You do not send your own mother to jail over household drama!"
"Household drama?" I let out a bitter, sharp laugh. "Richard, do you know why she was arrested?"
"She said your wife threw a fit because she had a few friends over for tea!"
"She held my wife hostage for a year," I said, every word dripping with ice. "She stole her legal documents, confiscated her phone, withheld her pain medication, and forced my five-year-old daughter to wash greasy pans in scalding water until her hands were covered in second-degree burns."
Silence fell over the line.
"What?" Richard muttered, his voice losing its aggressive edge.
"I caught her on camera, Richard," I lied, knowing the security cameras in the hallway had captured the aftermath. "I have the police report. I have the medical burn reports for my daughter. And the police found my wife's stolen documents locked in Carmen's closet along with a handwritten journal detailing how she abused them."
Richard stammered. "Zayden... look... your mother has always had a harsh personality, but... she’s still your mother. Family works these things out internally. You don't drag the Ferris family name through the court system!"
"Family?" I scoffed. "Where was this 'family' concern when my wife was losing weight and crying herself to sleep? Where were you when my daughter was being terrorized?"
"If you press charges, Zayden," Aunt Beatrice’s voice suddenly chipped in from the background, "you are dead to this family! We will cut you off completely!"
"Cut me off?" I smiled—a cold, terrifying smile. "That is the greatest gift you could ever give me. Listen to me very carefully, both of you."
I leaned closer to the phone.
"If any member of the Ferris family attempts to contact Jessica, attempts to approach Olivia, or spends one dollar posting bail for Carmen... I will hire the most aggressive trial lawyer in the state of Arizona and make sure every single one of you is named as an accomplice to systemic domestic abuse."
"Zayden, you wouldn't—"
"Try me," I said cleanly, and hung up the phone.
May you like
I immediately blocked every single family member's phone number on my phone, Jessica's phone, and our home network.
The line was drawn. The old family was gone. My real family was right here in this apartment.
