Chapter 5

I sidestepped her pointing finger and sat down across the table.

Sarah, the community mediator, tapped on the table.

"Everyone, sit down and speak calmly. Lynn, Mrs. Gable claims you intentionally damaged her son's vehicle, leading to severe consequences. What do you have to say about this?"

I looked at Sarah and placed my bag on the table.

"I damaged his car? Severe consequences?" I let out a cold laugh. "Where is the proof?"

Hearing this, Mildred shrieked, "What more proof do you need! My son went to drive his car that morning, and it wouldn't even start! If it wasn't you flipping the breaker, what else could it be? You are a malicious, evil woman!"

Brandon slowly pulled a sheet of paper from his briefcase and slapped it on the table.

It was a vehicle inspection and repair estimate bearing an official dealership stamp.

"Ms. Carter, this is the official diagnostic report and damage assessment from the dealership." Brandon pushed his glasses up his nose, putting on a show of being a reasonable, educated man.

"Because you maliciously cut off the power while the vehicle was charging, it caused a sudden short circuit that fried the battery management motherboard. The repair bill plus labor comes to exactly three thousand dollars."

He paused, his eyes turning cold and threatening.

"As for missing my date and getting fired due to distress, I’m letting you off easy by asking for twelve thousand dollars. If you refuse to pay, we will see you in court. By then, you'll not only pay the damages, but all our legal fees as well."

The neighbors in the room began to whisper.

"Three thousand dollars for a repair? Is flipping a breaker really that serious?"

"Even if Mrs. Gable's family shouldn't have parked there, Lynn cutting the power like that was pretty extreme."

"Yeah, we're all neighbors. She should have just let it go."

Seeing the tide turn, Mr. Miller quickly chimed in.

"Ms. Carter, this has gone too far. How about this? You apologize to the Gable family and pay a couple of thousand dollars for the repairs to settle this. You're a single young woman; going to court will only disrupt your work."

Sarah also nodded. "Lynn, you did play a part in this. Cutting off power like that can be dangerous."

Classic victim-blaming.

Looking at the smug grin on Mildred's face and the mocking sneer on Brandon's, I didn't lose my temper.

I unzipped my bag, pulled out a stack of documents I had prepared, and set down an iPad.

"Sarah, since Mr. Gable brought up court, let’s talk with facts and evidence."

I handed the first document to Sarah.

"This is the smart log history of my EV charger. Brandon, you claim my 'malicious shutoff' fried your motherboard, right?"

Brandon sneered. "Duh. Who else could it be?"

I tapped a video on my iPad and cast it to the TV screen in the room.

"I'm afraid you don't understand modern smart appliances. The remote switch I installed isn't a crude physical breaker. It uses a smart microchip to gradually ramp down the current safely. If you look at the current graph in the log, it’s a smooth, controlled decline that fully complies with national safety standards. It is physically impossible for it to cause a short circuit."

Brandon's face paled slightly.

But I didn't give him a chance to breathe.

I swiped to the next slide.

"So, how did your motherboard actually get fried? Well, you have your mother’s 'good habits' to thank for that."

The image on the TV changed.

It was the high-definition footage from the hidden camera directly above my parking spot.

The timestamp showed 3:00 AM on the night of the power cut.

Mildred, as usual, was carrying a dripping bag of smelly food scraps, sneaking around my parking spot.

To avoid being seen by passing cars, she rammed the bag of garbage deep underneath Brandon's hybrid SUV.

I sped up the footage.

By 4:30 AM, several large sewer rats, lured by the smell, scurried out of the garage drains.

After feasting on the garbage, they crawled up into the undercarriage of the car.

One of the rats began frantically chewing through the high-voltage wiring harness near the battery.

"Brandon, your motherboard didn't fry because of a power cut. It fried because your mother stuffed rotting garbage under your car, attracting rats that chewed through your high-voltage wires, causing a massive short circuit."

I slammed a high-definition, zoomed-in screenshot onto the table.

"Would you like me to send this video to your dealership's service department so they can re-evaluate the cause of the damage?"