Chapter 15 - Under Oath
The petition claimed Ethan had threatened Brooke, kept her belongings, and forced her out of the home without warning. It mentioned his phone call and carefully avoided mentioning the thrown sneaker.
"She was frightened last night," I said, reading the papers. "And she's still doing this?"
Ethan set the petition on the counter. "Fear doesn't erase what she filed. We have to respond properly."
Our attorney, Camille Ortiz, gathered the camera recordings, text messages, property records, and a timeline. She warned us that a hearing was about specific claims, not a chance to settle every family argument.
"Stick to what you saw," she told me. "Don't guess at motives."
At the courthouse Brooke looked pale in a plain blue blouse. Mom sat two rows behind her. Dylan wasn't there.
Brooke described Ethan's call as threatening. Camille asked whether he had touched her.
"No," she said.
"Did he stop you from leaving?"
"No."
"Before his call, did you throw a shoe toward your sister?"
Brooke stared at her hands. "I threw it on the floor."
The judge watched the unedited clip. My own gasp echoed through the courtroom. The shoe flew directly toward my chair and struck the floor beside my feet.
Brooke finally whispered, "I was angry."
The judge denied the requested order on the evidence presented, without deciding any separate criminal allegations. Outside the courtroom, Brooke approached us.
"I didn't know Dylan was going to use your name for that much," she said.
"But you knew he was using it," I replied.
She nodded.
"I need you to hear this," I told her. "You don't get to hurt me and then decide the apology makes us even."
I practiced my answers with Camille until I could say them without apologizing. The hearing wasn't about whether I'd been a good sister or whether Ethan had a temper; it was about what had actually happened. In the courtroom, that narrowness was a relief. I had spent my life defending my feelings. Here I could describe what I'd seen and let the evidence speak.
Her face crumpled.
May you like
Before she could answer, Detective Park appeared at the end of the hall.
"Mara, Ethan," she said, "we need to speak privately. Dylan has been arrested."
