“Lucas, sweetheart, I think you should come see us as quickly as you can,” she whispered before the connection suddenly went de:ad.

That same afternoon I drove from my suburban home outside Portland, unable to shake the dreadful feeling twisting inside my stomach.

As I turned into the long stone driveway, Gregory’s black pickup was the first thing I noticed, parked carelessly in front of the garage.

Folded beach chairs, coolers, and piles of soaked, filthy towels had been tossed carelessly across the once immaculate porch.

One front window had an obvious crack running across the glass, while loud music thundered from somewhere deep inside the mansion.

Then I heard furious voices shouting over the cr@shing sound of the ocean.

Without knocking, I pushed open the front door and walked directly into the disorder.

My mother stood beside the staircase crying into a kitchen towel while my father remained beside the entrance table, trembling so badly that his glasses had slipped halfway down his nose.

Gregory stood only a few inches from my father, his broad frame squared ag.gres.sive.ly, his flushed face burning red while one thick finger jabbed angrily through the air.

“This belongs to me now, old man,” Gregory screamed at full volume. “You and Irene should pack your worthless junk and leave this place immediately.”

Fiona rested casually against the kitchen archway, slowly sipping wine from one of my mother’s expensive crystal glasses.

She watched everything unfold with laughter, treating the entire situation like some amusing performance.

“Father, honestly, stop making such a spectacle of this,” she said, dismissively waving her hand. “You and Mother certainly do not require this enormous house anymore, while Gregory and I have children who actually need the room, and I doubt Lucas would object.”

Gregory shoved a cardboard box toward my father’s shoes using the tip of his boot.

“The exit is right there, so take it and disappear,” he barked.

My father opened his mouth, yet not a single word escaped.

That was the precise instant I stepped inside and slammed the front door closed behind me, trapping everyone together.

The blaring music continued briefly until someone inside the living room hurriedly switched it off.

Fiona’s self-satisfied smile disappeared the moment she realized I was standing there.

Gregory slowly turned toward me, his confidence fading into uncertainty.

I glanced at the cardboard box on the floor, my father’s shaking hands, my mother’s tear-covered face, then calmly looked back at my sister.