The hallway carpet was soft beneath my feet, but nothing about the air inside that house felt warm or safe. I had come home early to surprise my parents, Elias and Martha, with the news of my recent promotion. I was standing just outside the living room, one hand raised to knock, when the sound of my brother Leo’s voice stopped me instantly. He sounded desperate, his usual arrogant edge replaced by the thin, strained voice of a man who had gambled away money he did not have.
“I’m telling you, the collectors are going to start showing up at my place by Monday,” Leo said.
My father’s heavy sigh followed, a familiar sound of surrender I knew far too well.
