Leo came to me right before the fall semester started, looking for the money hed earned lifeguarding over the summer.
I threw my hands up. I don't have it.
When Mom and Dad found out, they pointed fingers in my face, screaming that I had no shame.
Then, I pulled out the bank statements and showed them the truth. Their jaws hit the floor.

1.

Because Leo didnt have his own checking account set up for direct deposit, his wages from two months of lifeguarding had been wired to my account. It was a temporary fix, or so I thought.

A week before classes started, he cornered me, demanding the card so he could withdraw cash to buy an iPad for school. I was in the middle of a deep-focus work sprint, buried in spreadsheets, so I just handed him the debit card without looking up.

By the time my brain caught up with what Id done, Leo was already gone.

It wasnt until later that the study door flew open with a violent bang.

"Maya, where is the money?" Leo stood there, eyes bloodshot, shaking a fistful of withdrawal receipts at me. "Two months of work, and there's only a hundred bucks left?"

I blinked, pulling my headphones down. "I forgot to tell you. The account is basically empty."

"Just a hundred bucks?" His voice cracked.

"Yeah."

"Are you treating me like an idiot? How could two months of wages just disappear?" His gaze, sharp with misplaced rage, locked onto the sleek, silver laptop sitting on my desk. "You used my money to buy that, didn't you?"

Before I could process the accusation, he lunged.

He hooked his fingers under the edge of my laptop and yanked it forward with a feral grunt.

"Don't" The plea died in my throat.

CRACK.

The sound was sickening. The machine hit the hardwood floor corner-first, the screen shattering into a spiderweb of dead pixels before going black.

"My files. My laptop."

The final deck. The quarterly strategy pitch I was due to present in forty-eight hours. It was all in there.

I didn't walk; I scrambled across the floor, falling to my knees beside the wreckage.

"Leo, have you lost your damn mind?" I screamed, looking up at him.

He hadnt just broken a machine; he had smashed half a month of my life. My sleep, my sanity, my ticket to a promotiongone.

"That was my presentation! Do you have any idea what youve done? I never touched a cent of your money!"

"You didn't touch it? Then where did it go? Did it fly away?" he roared back, vibrating with adrenaline. "You think I'm stupid? You have the card. If it wasn't you, who was it?"

"What is going on up here? The neighbors can hear you from the street!"

My parents jammed themselves into the doorway simultaneously. My mother took one look at the sceneme on the floor, Leo pantingand her brow furrowed.

"Maya," she sighed, the exhaustion in her voice performative. "How did you provoke your brother this time? Youre an adult. Cant you just be the bigger person?"

The injustice of it felt like a physical blow to the chest.

"I provoked him?" I pointed a shaking finger at the aluminum corpse of my laptop. "He came in here like a psycho and smashed my work computer! My project files are gone, Mom. Gone!"

My father looked at the broken laptop. He knew how much these things cost. For a second, the room held a heavy, stunned silence.

Then, the silence was broken by a sound so pathetic it had to be rehearsed.

"Mom... Dad..."

Leos tears were instantaneous. Big, alligator tears rolling down his cheeks. "Im just... Im so stupid. I worked so hard all summer, sweating in that chair for two months, and Maya took it all to buy herself a fancy new computer. Thats why she wouldnt let me see the account. I just wanted an iPad for school..."

I stared at him, paralyzed by the sheer fluidity of his lie. He was rewriting reality in real-time.

My parents, whose hearts were already heavily weighted in his favor, softened immediately.

Slowly, I bent down, picking up the scattered papers, trying to salvage what I could.

"Youre going to pay me back," Leo sniffled, his voice gaining strength. "With interest. Twenty grand. Principal and interest."

He shoved past my father and stormed out of the room.

2.

"Interest? Twenty grand?"

I screamed at the empty doorway, my voice trembling so hard it hurt. "Your little lifeguarding gig paid three grand, tops! Im telling you, I didnt touch it! Not a penny!"

"Watch your mouth!" My fathers low growl came from behind me. "You ungrateful brat. Spending your brother's hard-earned money and then denying it? Have you no shame?"

My mothers voice was sharper, cutting through the air like glass. "We raised a wolf in sheep's clothing. All that education, wasted on a thief. You owe him that money, Maya."

"I didn't do it."

Nobody was listening.

That night, the phone didnt stop ringing. It was a tribunal by telecommunication.

I kept picking up, masochistically hoping for someone to be on my side. First, it was Uncle Bob. "Maya, honestly. Being the older sister means looking out for him, not skimming off the top. Is this what college taught you?"

I tried to speak, but he hung up.

Then Aunt Karen: "Oh honey, aren't you embarrassed? A grown woman stealing from a teenager? Pay him back before the whole family finds out."

Every call was an indictment.

Then, the screen lit up again. Grandma.

No hello. No warmth.

"Listen to me, girl," her voice crackled, old and brittle. "You give my grandson his money back. Every cent, plus whatever interest he wants. He earned that. If you short him even a penny..."

She paused, letting the threat hang in the static.

"...then you are no granddaughter of mine. Don't bother coming to Thanksgiving. Don't bother coming back at all."

"Grandma..." I whispered.

Click.

From the doorway, a soft, rhythmic crunching sound made me look up.

Leo was leaning against the doorframe, casually eating an apple. He looked relaxed, victorious.

"Heh," he smirked, taking another bite. "Karma."

At dinner, the air was thick enough to choke on.

"Some people really have thick skin," Leo muttered to the ceiling.

Mom slammed a plate of green beans onto the table. "You have the nerve to sit here and eat? After spending your brother's blood and sweat money?"

"I didn't spend it!" The anger flared up, hot and white. "Ive said it a thousand times. The account was empty. Fine. Ill print the statements. From the day the card was issued until now. Well see exactly where it went."

I yanked my phone out of my pocket. The motion was too violent; it dislodged something else.

Clatter.

My car key hit the linoleum and slid under the table.

"Car key?" Leo was faster than me.

He scooped it up and dangled it in front of Dads face. "Dad, Maya bought a car? Since when did she have a new car?"

Absolute silence.

Then, the realization dawned on my parents facesa false epiphany that fit their narrative perfectly.

"That explains it," Dad said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I was wondering how a few thousand dollars just vanished into thin air."

He slammed his hand on the table, making the silverware jump. "You used it to plug the hole for your down payment. Youve got some nerve."