They Called Me a Freeloader—After I Paid Their $6,000 Bills Every Month

out. Mom called me six times yesterday. She says the money stopped and she can’t reach you. Dad is threatening to drive to Scottsdale.”

Isabella read the message, took a sip of espresso, and typed back: “Let them.”

She didn’t mean it as a dare. She meant it as a boundary—the verbal equivalent of the new gate code, a signal that whatever happened next continue reading …