I looked at him with a cold smile. "Call them. I dare you."

He wavered. So I pulled out my own phone and dialed.

"Yuxin International Residences, Building 4. Someone's beaten up an elderly couple."

The color drained from Cedric's face.

"I didn't assault anyone! They were hogging the chargers. I was standing up for the rest of us."

I pointed at the cut on my father's forehead, the blood barely dried, and my mother's wrist, swollen up like a bun.

"If you didn't touch them, where'd these injuries come from?"

"Standing up for everyone? You don't get to decide that. Save it for the cops."

My parents stood behind me. My father looked at the property management people, who hadn't shown an ounce of reason.

"Good. Let the police come and tell us who's right and who's wrong."

Manager Fox jabbed a finger practically against my father's nose and started yelling.

"Look, if you two hadn't insisted on hogging the EV charging stations, you think Cedric would've had to hit you?"

"And you, at your age, you're going to follow your clueless daughter and make a scene?"

"A scene?" My father's voice was steady. "My daughter's right. We spent our own money on those chargers. We're the ones who got beaten. And the people who did it won't even apologize. Where in the world is that fair?"

He gripped my hand tight. "Shelagh, Dad's been keeping his head down too long. Always told myself we're all neighbors, no point in making trouble. But not today. Today we set this right."

My father had been a pushover his entire life.

If even he was standing up now, he must have been choking on this one.

By then, nearly every charger in the complex had been torn out.

The residents' group chat was blowing up.

Despite the cold snap, a crowd had gathered below Building 4 to watch.

"Shelagh Dickerson, you've gone too far! Tell your people to stop right now. When the police get here, this won't go well for you."

Manager Fox glared at me, teeth clenched.

Seeing him on the verge of losing it only made me pick up my phone and call John.

"John, pick up the pace. Everything out in thirty minutes. I'll double the crew's pay."

Sirens grew louder in the distance. Cedric's face twisted with panic.

"Manager Fox, you have to back me up. I didn't assault them. I was just trying to do the right thing for the community."

Manager Fox reassured him. "Relax, Cedric. A community-minded resident like you—this complex won't let you down."

Listening to them flip the story inside out sent a chill straight through me.

Cedric had beaten my parents. And now he was the community-minded resident.

Looked like ripping out every last charger was the right call after all.

When John's crew pushed through the crowd to start on Building 4's chargers, Cedric puffed himself up and tried to block them.

"You sure you want to get in their way? These guys are young and strong—not like my elderly parents. You interfere with their work, things get physical, and I can't promise how that ends for you."

He took one look at John holding a sledgehammer and a pry bar, and every drop of bravery drained out of him.

He backed up several steps.

Manager Fox—that gutless dog who only ever picked on the weak—was hollering from the back of the crowd, trying to stop them.

But he didn't dare take a single step closer.

"All done, Boss Dickerson. What do you want us to do with the parts?"

"Call the scrap yard. Have them pick everything up as soon as possible."

Seeing I wasn't going to budge, all Manager Fox could do was stomp his feet.

"The police are here! Everyone move aside, let them set things right for us!"

Someone in the crowd shouted, and Manager Fox latched onto it like a drowning man.

He turned on me, vicious. "Shelagh Dickerson, you brought this on yourself. You'll regret this."

"When you've lost everything you own paying for this, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself."

Two officers arrived, a man and a woman.

"Who called this in?"

I raised my hand. The female officer stepped forward to examine my parents' injuries.

"Who did it? They're old—what kind of grudge warrants this?"

The male officer looked hard at Manager Fox and Cedric.

"Him," I said. "He insisted my parents were hogging the chargers and beat them. I have the complex's surveillance footage."

Manager Fox hadn't expected me to get my hands on the security recordings. He cut in fast.

"No, I'll vouch for Cedric. They were the ones monopolizing the chargers. He was just trying to talk them out of it."

"Talk them out of it? Manager Fox, want me to try my fists on you and see how persuasive that feels?"

The female officer caught my arm.

"Ma'am, easy. Cedric got a little carried away, sure, but his heart was in the right place. He was looking out for the residents."

"And her? She had every single charger in this complex torn out."

The male officer surveyed the debris scattered across the ground, then turned to me. "You ordered this? The entire complex?"

I nodded. His expression darkened.

"If your parents were being mistreated, you could have come to us. You didn't have to go this far."

Residents piled on from every direction.

"Those are community property! What gives you the right to tear them out?"

I raised my voice over the noise.

"I'll tell you what gives me the right. I paid for every one of those three thousand chargers myself. Two full years of operation, maintenance, and electricity, and this complex didn't spend a single cent."

The crowd went silent.

The male officer stared at me. "You installed them? All three thousand, across the entire complex?"

I pulled out the original expense receipts, two years of maintenance invoices, and every electricity bill.

"Even if you installed them, you still have no right to remove them." Manager Fox turned to the residents behind him. "The property management bylaws clearly state that removing community property requires written consent from two-thirds of the homeowners."

He jabbed a finger at me.

"No signatures, no right. That's theft. Officer, arrest her."

"Yeah, arrest her! Acting this high and mighty—selfish enough to drag the whole complex down with her."

"Her parents have been hogging those chargers all along, and now she acts like she's the victim."

"Lock her up, and make her install new ones while you're at it."

I listened to one absurd demand after another, then said evenly, "I paid to install every one of those chargers. They are not community property."

"No matter who shows up, I have every right to do what I want with my own equipment."

The male officer raised a hand to quiet the crowd.

"The woman is correct. If they're her personal property, she has every right to—"

Manager Fox cut them off before they could finish.

"Officer, with all due respect, you may not have the full picture. These are community property. From the very first day they were installed, they belonged to the complex."

He spoke while accepting a contract a security guard had just brought over.

"See for yourselves. It's right here in writing."

The male officer examined the document carefully.

"Ms. Dickerson, is this your signature here?"

He pointed to the name on the signature line and held it up for me to see.

I nodded.

"Ms. Dickerson, if this contract holds, the chargers became complex property the day they were installed. What you did today isn't just a bylaws violation—it could be a criminal one."

My parents seized my arms. "Shelagh, what does he mean? You paid for everything. You took down your own chargers. How is that breaking the law?"

Manager Fox shrank behind the male officer, smirking at me with all the smugness of a man who thought he'd already won.

"Told you. The chargers belong to the complex, and you went ahead and tore them out anyway. Good luck with what's coming."

"That's impossible. I signed that contract, but there was no clause transferring ownership to the complex."

Seeing my disbelief, the male officer pointed to a line of text. "Black and white, Ms. Dickerson. You've already confirmed the signature. Are you saying this is wrong?"

I read the line he was pointing to, and my stomach dropped.

No wonder Manager Fox wasn't afraid. He'd come prepared.