Chapter 3 - The Fallout: Arrests and Alibis
My phone started blowing up at exactly 11:15 a.m. The caller ID flashed Mom. I took a deep breath, stepped onto my back porch away from the kids, and answered.
“Hannah Marie Miller!” my mother shrieked so loudly I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “What have you done?! The police are at Ryan’s house! They’re putting your brother in handcuffs!”
“No, Mom,” I replied coldly. “Ryan and Ashley put themselves in handcuffs when they dumped four sleeping children on a freezing porch at 3:00 a.m.”
“It was a joke! A lesson!” she screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria. “Ashley is pregnant! The stress of this will harm the baby! You tell the police you agreed to watch them right now, or so help me God—”
“If you lie to the police, Mom, I’ll give them the doorbell footage that proves they abandoned them in the middle of the night. Oh wait, I already did.”
“You are destroying this family!”
“This family was already destroyed,” I said. “You just didn't want to look at the wreckage. Do not contact me again unless it’s to apologize.” I hung up and blocked her number, then blocked my dad's number for good measure.
According to the local news later that evening, Ryan and Ashley were booked into the county jail on four counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. Their mugshots were broadcasted—Ashley crying mascara tears, Ryan looking terrified. There was no smugness left.
The kids were thankfully oblivious. I kept the TV off and bought a mountain of groceries. The first night was pure chaos. Chloe wouldn't stop crying for her mother, Sam wet the bed, and Leo tried to act like a tiny adult, apologizing for his siblings' behavior.
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“Leo,” I told him, sitting on the edge of his temporary bed. “You don’t have to apologize. You are eight. Your only job is to be a kid. I’m the adult here. I’ve got this.”
He cried, finally letting down his guard, and I held him until he fell asleep. I realized then that my brother hadn't just used me; he had used his own children.
