Neighbors can become either friends or foes, and mine went from one to the other overnight. What began as a simple favor soon turned into a bitter feud that left me reeling.

I’m Prudence, 48, raising two kids on my own after my husband, Silas, left six years ago. Life hasn’t been easy. I work from home for a call center and struggle to make ends meet while trying to keep things together for my kids, Damien and Connie.

One day, my new neighbor Emery asked me for a favor—she needed help cleaning up after a wild party. In exchange, she promised $250. Tempted by the extra cash, I agreed, and spent two days cleaning her disastrous house. But when I returned to collect my payment, Emery denied ever agreeing to pay me.

Furious, I decided to teach her a lesson. I gathered trash from the local dump and, using the house key she had forgotten to take back, dumped it all over her floors. When Emery came home, she was furious, but I just shrugged it off. I knew I’d crossed a line, but it felt like the only way to make things right. Do you think I handled it well? What would you have done?