Even some of my business contacts chimed in. My parents Madison and Tyler kept messaging. The tone shifted from angry to weedling to angry again. Mom, we’re family. You can’t just cut us off. Dad, I may have overreacted this morning. We should talk. Madison, you’re being incredibly immature about this. Tyler, mom’s crying.
Are you happy now? I finally responded to the group chat. The same one where they’d excluded me from their Thanksgiving plans. Me: I pressed charges against Dad, Madison, and Tyler for what happened this morning. The assault was caught on camera. If any of you contact me again, I’ll pursue restraining orders. Lose my number. Then I block all of them.
The next morning, I woke to find my phone flooded with messages from relatives who weren’t blocked. They’d heard about the assault through the family grapevine, and they were horrified. Aunt Diane, please tell me you’re okay. Frank, and I want to come check on you. Uncle Paul, I spoke with a lawyer friend. He said you have a strong case.
Let me know if you need anything. Cousin Jennifer, I can’t believe they put their hands on you. I’m so sorry, Becca. I spent the morning responding to messages and reassuring everyone that I was fine. The bruises on my throat were darker now, ugly purple and yellow marks that would take weeks to fade. My ribs hurt when I breathed deeply, but the paramedics had been right. Nothing was broken.
The police called around noon. They’d arrested my father, Madison, and Tyler that morning. All three were being charged with criminal trespassing, breaking and entering, and assault. My father faced an additional charge of aggravated assault due to the strangulation. The bail hearing was scheduled for the following Monday.
The prosecutor wanted to know if I’d be willing to testify. “Absolutely,” I said. My lawyer, whom I called the night before, had already filed for restraining orders against all three of them. With the video evidence and the police report, he was confident they’d be granted. Over the following days, I learned through Aunt Diane that chaos had erupted in my parents’ house.
My father had been denied bail after the prosecutor argued he was a danger to me and had shown willingness to violate court orders by trespassing on my property. He’d remained in county jail until trial. My mother was furious that I’d actually followed through with charges. Madison was beside herself because Chad was questioning their relationship after seeing her on camera kicking me.
Tyler was terrified about potentially losing his job at the bank if he got convicted of a crime. My father characteristically was doubling down. According to Uncle Frank, who’d visited him in jail once out of a sense of family obligation, Dad was telling anyone who’d listened that I’d provoked them, that I’d bought an expensive house just to embarrass them, that I was a spoiled brat who’ turned their back on their family.
The extended family wasn’t buying it. Most of them had experienced my parents and siblings behavior firsthand over the years. They’d watched me be excluded, dismissed, and belittled at family gatherings. The video I’d shared with my lawyer and which had somehow made its way to several family members was just confirmation of what they’d always suspected.
