At dinner, my brother sneered, ‘still single, huh? must be lonely being a failure.’ my parents chuckled – so i smiled and said, ‘funny coming from a guy whose rent i’ve paid for 3 years. not anymore, by the way.’

She eventually contacted me through email.

Her message was short.

Derek, I’m sorry. I believed everything he told me. I hope you know that none of this was your fault.

I replied with three sentences.

You don’t owe me an apology. I hope you take care of yourself. And I hope you never let anyone convince you that you have to ignore the truth just to keep the peace.

She never replied.

I didn’t expect her to.

My family, however, wasn’t finished.

My mother called almost every evening.

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Sometimes she cried.

Sometimes she shouted.

Sometimes she reminded me that Connor had been under a lot of pressure and that I should have considered his future before exposing him.

My father sent a long email about forgiveness, loyalty, and the importance of keeping family matters private.

Neither of them mentioned the $28,800.