Philips' Pov

I watch with my tummy doing painful flips as my dad goes through the pictures Janet sent me earlier today. His thumb slides to the power button and the screen goes black.

Seconds pass and no one utters a word. It's total silence asides from the man casting the news on TV. My heart as well, continues to thump as I wonder what is going through my father's mind. When I completed the sad tale of what I was going through with his sister, the only words he said to me were, "Show me the pictures." And I did.

I shift a little away from him to access him better and it is then I realize he is shaking. Scratch that. He's vibrating and I can obviously tell it's with anger. His eyes are closed as his chest continues to heave. My heartbeat increases pace as I imagine his anger is directed at me. Or is it directed at his sister? As if trying to answer my question, he yells, "Janet!"

My heart nearly jumps out of my chest at the intensity and rage in his call.

He stands up abruptly from the couch when he gets no response. I frantically follow after him suddenly feeling ten years younger. He storms up the stairs and without knocking, pushes open the door to Janet's room. The force causes the door to bang on the wall behind it and I fear the wood will rip out of its hinges.

Janet that had been sleeping is startled awake by the intrusion. "What's going on?" She asks, looking at dad and I with an innocence I knew she didn't possess.

"Get up." Dad says in a terrifyingly quiet voice. Sweat starts to gather in my palms, my forehead, everywhere as I observe the scenery. I've never ever seen my father this angry. As you may have noticed, he's very laid back and easy going. He jokes and laughs a lot so seeing him this upset is new and scary.

Janet gets down from her bed immediately she hears the command and dad charges at her. My first instinct is to hold him back so I do so at once. Dad doesn't even spare me a glance as he yells at me to go to my room. I ignore him and continue to hold him back.

"Go to your room, I said." He yells even louder, causing me to jump in fright.

I retract my hold on him and walk hesitantly towards the exit. When I get to the door, I proceed to continue watching from there instead of actually going to my room. Janet shifts her gaze from my father's intimidating stance over her to me and I only make out one emotion in her eyes. Fear.

"Do you know what you did?" Dad asks and she turns her attention back to him before shaking her head.

He lifts his palm to turn on my phone that he still possessed. He opens it up and the pictures she sent me flash brightly on the screen. Her eyes grow wider than saucers and the fear in them intensifies.

"I-i-i can ex-explain."

"Explain? You want to explain? You will but get out of this room first. Go downstairs." He orders, pointing at where I stood, while still looking her directly in the eyes.

"Brother–" She starts to say when the thing I least expect happens.

He gives her the most thunderous slap I have ever witnessed. "Who is brother? Get out of this place, I said!"

"Ifeanyi, you slapped me!" Janet yells out, now in tears, addressing my father by his middle name.

"And I will slap you again if you don't get out of this room."

"You would never!" She yells back, looking my dad directly in the eyes. My dad lifts his hand to slap her again so I interfere,"Dad, no! Stop!"

He turns to me and lowers his hand. "I thought I told you to go to your room."

"Don't hit her again." I say as calmly as I can. Janet wipes her tears before turning to me and laughing humorlessly.

I start to question my previous statement.

"You–" She starts to say something when dad delivers a backhand slap across her cheek. I choke on a gasp.

"If you try to utter one more word, you would regret being born." Dad says and with that, he pulls her by her arm out of the room. I follow wordlessly behind them until we reached the living room.

"On your knees." He says and pushes Janet to the ground. She surprisingly obeys.

"Go to your room. Don't make me repeat myself." Dad then turns to me and says.

After so much internal battle, I decide to go upstairs. The last thing I see is my dad picking up a belt from somewhere beside him and rolling it on his palm.

I shut my room door behind me not knowing what to think before sliding down on it and burying my face in my palms.

I hear the muffled sound of two of them arguing and I sigh into my palms.

The sound of something like leather connecting to skin followed by a feminine scream causes my head to snap up. I stand up on instinct, already twisting the door handle when my subconscious stops me.

Where do you think you're going? What are you trying to do?

My dad's beating her up. I have to stop him.

After all she did to you? So what if he beats her up? She deserves it.

But-

But nothing!

"Nnamdi!" I hear my dad call out to me. I rush down the stairs at once to see Janet, a bawling mess.

"Please, Ifeanyi. I'm sorry. Please, I'm begging you." She sobbed out, holding onto my father's leg.

"Sir?" I reply, standing at the foot of the stairs and taking in the whole thing. Why is she suddenly apologizing? I thought she was doing strong head before.

"Get my phone from my room. It's on my bed. Leave my leg, Janet." He says, turning to look at her.

"Ifeanyi, please don't send me to prison. Nnamdi please help me to beg your dad." She suddenly turns to me and says.

I swallow a lump in my throat before looking at my dad, who is busy sending me a hard glare. I turn swiftly, running upstairs to get the phone.

When I return, Janet is still begging.

"Ifeanyi please remember I'm your sister. Ifeanyi, it's me, Janet."

"Oh and you didn't remember I was your brother when you were sleeping with my son, isn't it?"

His words send a disturbing churn inside my stomach and he turns to me as if sensing my discomfort.

"Your phone." I say and hand him his phone. He collects it from me and starts to scroll through it. Once he finds the number he's looking for, he dials it and the person picks almost immediately.

"Sergeant, I hope I didn't wake you... Very well sir... Family is fine sir... Yes sir... I need your men at my house this instant sir... Yes sir... There's a criminal here..." He looks at his sister who is still begging and sobbing only that she's more silent now. A flash of hurt crosses his eyes as he turns around. "Thank you very much. I'd be expecting you."

And with that, he hangs up.

All three of us remain in silence after that. Janet wiping her face and maybe accepting that this is the end of the road for her, my dad pretentiously watching the TV–I know it's pretence since what is showing is some kind of entertainment news. My dad has no interest in the sorts– and me, trying to deal with my mixed emotions. I honestly don't know what to feel. Relief? Joy? Happiness? Sadness? Guilt? I don't know.

A bang on our gate outside jolts everyone up. Dad goes to open the front door and in no time, three men enter into our living room. They aren't uniformed making me wonder if they are police men.

"Sergeant, I didn't expect you to come along." Dad says to one of the men before shaking hands with him. The man who looks to be about the same age as my father laughs, revealing his open front teeth, "Mr Philips, why wouldn't I? This is my job and I'm always at your service. Where is this criminal you told me about?" He asks, looking around the room.

"Ifeanyi." Janet whispers, maybe as a way of gaining last minute pity. My dad however ignores her. "There she is." He says, pointing at her.

The Sergeant's forehead creases in confusion, probably wondering how the pretty young lady could be a criminal.

"What is her offence?" He asks.

For some reason I start to grow anxious. Dad's going to tell them I got raped and they'd stare down on me and probably chuckle among themselves. I prepare myself for the coming embarrassment.

"She and two other girls raped a minor." Dad replies bitterly. My nerves calm as I realize the context in which he reported her. My name wasn't mentioned.

"Wonderful." The sergeant hollers sarcastically. "Officers arrest her. Any idea where the other two women are?"

"No but I'm sure you can get that information through probing her." Dad replies.

"I didn't do it. I didn't rape any minor." Janet protests in defense. My hands quiver as I watch the officers struggle to cuff her.

"Madam, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say now can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to a lawyer. If you do not have one, the state has the duty to provide one for you." One of the officers says to her in monotonous voice, leading her out of the living room.

After exchanging a last nod with the Sergeant, dad shuts the door.

"She's gone. I'd make sure she spends a very long time there." Dad says more to himself than to me.

I continue to stand at the foot of the stairs, not knowing how to react.

Janet is gone and she's going to pay for the trauma she caused me.

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips.

"Nnamdi." Dad says, coming over to me.

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry." He says, looking broken. Just like when Mom died.

"You didn't know." I reply, hoping to ease whatever guilt he was feeling.

"I should've figured it out. All those times you didn't want her coming here or living with us, I should've guessed."

"There's no way you could have. I should've told you what was happening earlier. I just didn't want to ruin your relationship with your sister. I was a coward. I let her manipulate me. I'm more to blame than you are."

"Come here. Let's not talk about this anymore." He says, pulling me in a side hug.

I nod and we both go up the stairs.

"Do you want to go to school tomorrow?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply almost immediately. I feel some kind of excitement build in me as I wonder how the guys would react when I tell them Janet is finally in prison. The excitement grows as I also wonder how the main person that pushed me to telling my dad everything would react.

Only when dad says, "See how you're smiling," do I realize I have a goofy grin on my face.

"Take your phone." Dad says. "Oh and please, delete those pictures." He adds, making me chuckle. I nod and we part. He goes to his room and I go to mine.

For the first time since Janet got here, I sleep peacefully.

•••

A/n

What do you think about Philips' father getting physical on his sister?💀

Would you justify the gender violence or do you think he shouldn't have hit her?

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