Chapter 4

Dad was completely blindsided. His bruised, swollen face went white as a sheet. "Our son sent it to you? Why would he send you something like that?"

Mom puffed up her chest like she was showing off some grand trophy. "Because I made a burner account on the forum and pretended to be an older-sister type he could confide in online! He does whatever I tell him now. He even sent me the proof of your affair all on his own!

"I've seen through both of you. Neither of you is worth a damn!"

The room went dead silent for a solid three seconds. Dad's expression shifted from shock to disbelief and then to something twisted and ugly. He shot up from the floor, his voice rising so loud it could have cracked the ceiling.

"Are you out of your mind? You've been talking to your own son about intimate things online? Have you completely lost your shame?"

Mom stumbled back a step, her words tripping over themselves. However, she stiffened up almost immediately, trying to dress up what she had done as some noble act of motherly devotion.

"I did it for his own good! He's in his senior year right now. This is a critical time!

"If I didn't pretend to be someone he was talking to online, how was I supposed to get him to open up? How was I supposed to stop him from getting distracted by some girl and ruining his future?

"I'm a devoted mother. Everything I've done has been for this family!"

Dad laughed. It was the kind of laugh that came from pure, boiling rage. He charged forward, swung his arm back, and slapped her hard across the face.

The crack echoed through the room. Mom spun halfway around from the force of it and collapsed onto the couch.

"You're sick!" Dad pointed at her, screaming. "You're a twisted, disgusting freak! So what if I'm cheating on you? Living under the same roof with a psycho like you, any man would've lost his mind!"

Mom pressed her hand against her swelling cheek and let out a piercing wail. "You hit me? I'll tear you apart!"

She threw herself at him and sank her teeth into his arm. The two of them rolled across the living room floor again, fists and furniture and screaming all tangled together.

I held up my phone and aimed the camera through the crack in the door, recording every second of them beating each other senseless.

Pounding sounds came from below. The downstairs neighbors had finally had enough and were jabbing a broom handle against the ceiling. Someone was also banging on the front door.

"It's the middle of the night! Are you gonna let anyone sleep?

"Keep it up and I'm calling the cops!"

Mom suddenly froze. She whipped her head around, and through the mess of tangled hair, her venomous eyes locked onto my half-open bedroom door.

Something clicked behind them. She shoved Dad off of her and pointed straight at me, screaming, "It's him! It's that little monster! He sent me the video on purpose to pit us against each other! He's the one who destroyed this family!"

A furious roar tore through the apartment, and my bedroom door flew open under both of them at once.

Dad held a leather belt he had just ripped from his waistband. Mom had a pair of sharp sewing scissors clenched in her fist.

At that moment, they had completely forgotten their hatred for each other. Every ounce of their rage and humiliation had been redirected at me.

"You little piece of garbage!"

Dad closed the distance in one stride and grabbed the back of my collar. He slammed me face-down onto the hard surface of the desk.

"You think you can play games with me? You got a death wish?"

The belt came down with a whistle of air and cracked across my back. My thin pajama top split open on impact, and searing pain ripped through my entire body.

I let out a muffled grunt and bit down hard on my lip.

"Give me your phone!"

Dad's eyes were bloodshot, and he was screaming like a man possessed.