They Told Me To Endure Her, Until They Faced Her Nightmare Too Chapter 03

I stayed standing and picked up the paper.

The front page stated that Hannah would pay a $150 “goodwill reimbursement.”

The rest waived all future claims, banned the audio recordings from the group chat, and called for “mutual harmony.”

I flipped to the back.

The signature line was blank.

“Is this a negotiation, or did you already decide what I’m doing?”

Miller pushed a pen across the desk toward me.

“Don’t take it personally, Summer. Hannah scraped together another hundred bucks. We’re just trying to give everyone a way out of this.”

I turned to Hannah.

“What exactly does this hundred and fifty cover?”

Her voice was barely a whisper. “The lock.”

“And next time?”

Her mouth clamped shut.

Miller cut in. “We’ll make sure she’s reminded. Everyone will keep an eye out.”

“How?” I looked at him. “Who’s standing outside my door at three in the morning to stop her?”

Silence fell over the office.

Derek tossed his phone onto the desk. “She apologized, Summer. Drop it.”

“I just want to sleep,” I replied, “without someone bashing my lock.”

“Who’s stopping you?”

I unlocked my phone, opened the high-res photo of the gouged deadbolt, and thrust it in front of his face.

Derek flinched, looking away. “You work from home anyway, don’t you? Take a nap during the day. Some of us actually have to commute.”

The sheer nerve of it stunned me.

Because I earned my living from my laptop, my sleep was fair game.

Wendy gave Derek’s sleeve a quick tug, then offered me a tight smile.

“He didn’t mean it like that. But if you drag her landlord into this, she could lose her lease. Where is a young girl supposed to go?”

“If she keeps hammering my deadbolt,” I said, “where am I supposed to go?”

Wendy let out a quiet sigh.

“You own your place, Summer. She’s just renting. It’s different for you.”

My fingers tightened against the paper until my knuckles went white.

This place hadn’t fallen out of the sky.

Every cent of that down payment came from sleepless nights, endless revisions, and chasing down overdue checks. The day I closed, I couldn’t even afford a mattress.

Owning a door just meant people thought they had the right to kick it in.

Hannah let out a jagged sob.

“I haven’t eaten all day! Summer, what do you want from me? Do you want to see me crawl out of here?”

She buried her face in her trembling hands, her whole body shaking violently against the table.

Wendy caught her by the arm, glaring up at me.

“Look at her, Summer. Do you really need to kick someone when they’re down?”

The pen was still resting next to my hand.

I dropped the agreement back onto the desk without touching it.

“The repairs are itemized. The damage is documented. I’m not signing away my rights.”

The warmth dropped out of Miller’s voice.

“Summer, you can’t be so rigid with your neighbors. We’re supposed to look out for each other. One day, you might need their help, too.”

I picked up my bag.

“I needed their help last night.”

Nobody said a word.

Outside, the cool alley air hit my face. My phone buzzed—the contractor.

“Hey, I found an uninsulated steel slab at the supplier. Heavy-gauge metal, totally hollow inside. Extra three hundred, but I can have it hung by tomorrow afternoon.”

I didn’t hesitate.

“Bring it.”