MY SISTER SLAPPED ME AT DINNER AND SCREAMED, "GET OUT! YOU HAVE NO CLAIM TO THIS HOUSE!" BUT SHE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS COMING NEXT...

On Thursday evening, I left my software development office in South Lake Union around 6:30 PM. The rain had cleared, leaving behind crisp, freezing air.

As I walked toward the parking garage where my Subaru was parked, two figures stepped out from the shadows near the concrete stairwell.

"Claire."

I stopped instantly, my hand sliding inside my coat to grip the canister of pepper spray I had purchased two days prior.

It was Dad and Erin.

Erin looked unkempt, a stark contrast to her usual polished persona. Her designer coat was wrinkled, her eyes swollen and ringed with dark circles, her hair pulled into a messy knot. Dad looked ten years older, his shoulders slumped, though his jaw remained clenched in stubborn resentment.

"Stay right where you are," I said, holding out my hand. "Erin, you are violating a temporary protection order right now. You are within fifty feet of me. That is an automatic misdemeanor and an immediate revocation of your bail."

Erin took an involuntary step back, panic flashing across her face. She grabbed Dad's arm. "Dad, tell her!"

Dad stepped forward, raising his hands in a placating gesture that felt entirely unnatural on him. "Claire, stop with the legal threats for five minutes. Look at your sister. Look at what you're doing to her."

"I didn't do this to her, Dad. She did this to herself."

"We're broke, Claire," Dad blurted out, his voice cracking with humiliation. "Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now? We have nothing left!"

I stared at him, keeping my distance. "What happened to the money from your condo sale?"

Dad looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

Erin was the one who spoke, her voice bitter and venomous. "We used it for PulsePoint's enterprise server infrastructure and marketing rollout. We needed capital to compete with the big tech firms!"

"You spent your entire retirement and home equity on an unvetted startup?" I asked, stunned despite myself. "All of it?"

"It was an investment in our family’s future!" Dad yelled, his anger flaring back up. "Erin has vision! She has charisma! All you do is write code for corporate executives who don't know your name! We backed the horse that could actually win!"

The sheer cruelty of the statement hit me, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt. The wound was already numb. It merely validated everything I had suspected for years.

"And how did that investment work out, Dad?" I asked quietly.

"We just need time!" Erin pleaded, suddenly dropping her hostility, taking a desperate step forward. "Claire, please. The investors were supposed to wire fifty thousand dollars this week for our beta launch, but when news of my arrest leaked onto local tech forums, they put the round on hold! If you don't drop the charges and give us the deed collateral, the company goes bankrupt! I'll be ruined! I'll have to declare personal bankruptcy at twenty-nine!"

"Then declare bankruptcy," I said.

Erin gasped as if I had physically struck her. "How can you say that? You're my sister!"

"You hit me in the face, Erin. You lived in my house for nearly two years without paying a cent. You tried to steal my home through identity theft and forgery. You don't get to call me your sister anymore."

"You selfish, heartless monster!" Erin screamed, losing all control, lunging toward me. "I'll kill you! You ruined my life!"

Dad tried to grab her arm, but she broke free.

I didn't hesitate. I pulled the pepper spray from my coat pocket, aimed directly at her face, and depressed the trigger.

A dense, orange stream of oleoresin capsicum caught Erin squarely across her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Erin let out a bloodcurdling shriek, dropping to her knees on the cold concrete of the parking garage, clawing frantically at her burning face. "MY EYES! GOD, MY EYES! IT BURNS!"

Dad stared at me in absolute horror. "WHAT DID YOU DO? ERIN!"

I stepped back, keeping the spray canister aimed directly at Dad. "I defended myself against an attacker who violated a protective order. Now call an ambulance, Dad. Because the garage security guard has already called the police."

I pointed toward the corner of the garage ceiling. A security guard was jogging toward us, radio in hand, shouting into his shoulder mic.