No is one of the shortest words in the English language. And yet it’s also one of the hardest to understand to some.

It’s also usually one of the most detrimental words as it often leads to dire consequences if ignored. Like a night in a jail cell.

A Redditor recently shared one such story: a stepson didn’t really get the idea that his stepsister’s car is not his car, but he took it anyway, and then got the police on his tail after the car got reported as stolen. Needless to say, certain members of the family were not thrilled by this turn of events.

More Info: Reddit

No is one of the shortest words in the English language. And yet it’s also one of the hardest to understand to some

Image credits: Flattrackers and Caferacers Parts (not the actual photo)

A Redditor by the nickname of u/Leap-Window5345 visited the Am I The A-Hole subreddit with an intense story. Leap is a mother to a 17-year-old daughter and a stepmother to a 19-year-old son who’s biologically tied to her current husband.

One day, OP got a new car for her daughter. She loved it, but so did the stepbrother. It wasn’t technically his, but that did not stop him from trying to drive it. The daughter made it very clear that he should not even try, but he kept on referring to it as “our car” and would get upset if the daughter would (rightfully) decorate it. Apparently, he thought it was “ruining their car” and embarrassing him in front of his friends. Did we mention it’s not his car?

This stepson didn’t take no for an answer and ended up effectively stealing his stepsister’s car. And paying the price

Image credits: Leap-Window5345

OP did approach her husband about this, but long story short, he effectively told her and her daughter to chill. Chill they did not.

One day the daughter called OP while she was at work and explained how the step-brother took her car without her permission – simply took the opportunity while she was upstairs, took the keys and bolted. Leap did try to get a hold of him over the phone, but that didn’t work. Next step was to get the dad involved.

He, however, wasn’t useful here as he did manage to get through to the son, but eventually called back and said he took the car to the movies with his friends. Should be back by 9. That was not an option, though.

OP tracked down her stepson, but unlike the father, took matters into her own hands and got the police involved

Image credits: Leap-Window5345

The stepson ended up spending the night in the local police station, and boy, the husband was furious

Image credits: 陳 清 (not the actual photo)

After a bit of a back and forth, OP decided to take matters into her own hands. She simply called the police and reported the car stolen. Stepson was promptly picked up from the movies and brought to the local police station. They retrieved the car too, but it was, unfortunately, trashed. The décor and toys were gone. Daughter was devastated.

And while justice was served, the dad was anything but happy about it. Once the two lads came back home, the dad confronted OP about it, saying she made a mistake and unnecessarily escalated the situation. What is more, he blamed her for creating this entire situation, i.e. getting the daughter a car, but not the stepson, thus only adding fire to the fuel that is the kid’s temper tantrums.

This led OP to pass the question on to the community—was she wrong to get the police involved, was she right to do so, was there another way? According to folks online, no, yes, and this was the best, it seems.

But folks online were having none of it, said OP’s NTA, and started coming up with an exit strategy for her

Folks ruled that she is not the jerk in this situation, saying that she was, if anything, protecting her daughter from other family members who overstepped boundaries. But this is besides the stepson blatantly breaking the law by stealing the daughter’s car and the dad trying to cover it up with excuses and abuse.

And speaking of that, many suggested she files for divorce. The men are toxic at the very least with their reasoning in the matter, and it has now become of the utmost importance for OP and her daughter to get as far away from them as possible.

The post got a bit over 15,000 upvotes and nearly 15 Reddit awards. Considering that the top comment on the post had over 25,000 upvotes, you can imagine that there were many more people here than what meets the eye.

You can check out the original post in context here, and partake in the discussion in the comment section below.

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