Chapter 2: Four Taps
My thumb hovered over the screen for exactly three seconds.
Then I cancelled every payment.
All of them.
The mortgage.
The electricity.
Mason's car.
Mom's SUV insurance.
Dad's health supplement.
Every autopay I had quietly carried for three years — gone in four taps.
Mom watched my face.
She couldn't see the screen.
But she could read my expression.
"Briar.
Don't do something you'll regret."
"I already did," I said.
"I did it for three years."
Dad stepped forward.
"You put this family on the street over hurt feelings?"
"You put me on the street over a dinner conversation."
Mason's voice came from behind me.
Quieter now.
Less certain.
"She's bluffing."
I turned and looked at him directly for the first time all evening.
"The mortgage is due the 28th, Mason.
That's four days."
His face changed.
Mom grabbed my arm.
"We can talk about this.
Come back to the table."
"There's nothing on that table for me."
I opened the front door.
Cold air rushed in.
Then Dad said something I never expected.
Not a threat.
Not an apology.
A name.
A name I had never heard him say out loud before.
And the way Mom's hand dropped from my arm told me everything.
She knew exactly who he meant.
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What that name revealed about Briar's family is something nobody saw coming.
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