« Nee. »

« En Gwendolyn? »

Warren looked me straight in the eyes.

Gwendolyn owns nothing.

For nine years, she had moved my mother’s furniture.

She has removed her decorations.

They gave me a sermon about gratitude.

She acted as if I was lucky that she allowed me to stay in the house.

And all that time she hadn’t owned a single centimeter of it.

Warren skipped another section.

There is more.

He pointed to a paragraph.

If the surviving resident knowingly and willfully allows the beneficiary to be permanently excluded from the property, the usufruct may possibly be terminated.

I felt my heartbeat quicken.

So you’re saying that Dad could lose his right to live there because he allowed Gwendolyn to kick me out?

Possibly. But we need proof that the exclusion was intentional and permanent.

Then I remembered the security camera.

Two years earlier, after a burglary in the neighborhood, my father had installed cameras around the house.

One of them looked out onto the dining area.

And it recorded sound.

By midday, Warren and I had gained access to the cloud backup.

We have watched the footage.

Gwendolyn’s voice was clearly audible.

« Give your bedroom to your sister tomorrow morning, or pack your things and leave this house for good. »

Then the video showed that my father said nothing.

It showed me when I left.

Warren looked at it twice.

Finally, he leaned back.

‘That,’ he said, ‘is proof.’

Three days after the dinner, Warren and a bailiff arrived at the house in Phoenix.

I wasn’t there.

I was sitting on the terrace of my new house when my phone started vibrating.

Well.

And then Gwendolyn.

And then Chloe.

And then Dad again.

Eventually, I answered.

‘Paige,’ whispered my father. His voice sounded shaky. ‘What have you done?’

I heard Gwendolyn calling from somewhere behind him.

I have done what I should have done a long time ago.

There is a bailiff in the hallway.

« I know. »

He says that this house is not mine.

“That has never been the case, Dad.”

Before he could react, Gwendolyn grabbed the phone.

‘You selfish little snake!’ she screamed. ‘You’re trying to steal your father’s house!’

I almost had to laugh.

‘No, Gwendolyn. I am preventing you from taking what my mother protected.’

She hung up.

By evening, half the family seemed to know.

Gwendolyn told everyone that I was trying to put my elderly father out on the street because I wanted the house for myself.

Chloe posted a crying video online in which she explained that her cruel stepsister made the family homeless.

My phone was flooded with messages.

Some called me heartless.

Others told me that my mother would be ashamed. 

For one night, the guilt almost worked.

Then, just before midnight, headlights shone across the wall of my living room.

A black SUV stopped in front of the gate.

Gwendolyn.

She called six times.

On the seventh, I gave an answer.

Open the gate.

« Nee. »

“Paige, stop your childish behavior. We need to discuss this in person.”

You had the opportunity to talk about things like adults during dinner.

Her tone changed immediately.

Suddenly she sounded soft.

Your father will be completely devastated if he loses that house.

I stood next to the window and looked at her silhouette outside the steel fence.

Then perhaps you shouldn’t have ordered the rightful owner to leave it for good.

Quiet.

For the first time since she came into my life, Gwendolyn realized that I knew something she didn’t know.

Then she changed direction.

Your mother loved your father. She wanted him to be well cared for.

« Yes. »

And Chloe is also his daughter.

I gripped the phone more tightly.

At the time, I thought she was just defending Chloe.

Later I would understand that she was putting me to the test.

I tried to figure out exactly how much I knew.

‘You have always been jealous of Chloe,’ she said. ‘This isn’t about the house. You want revenge.’

« Nee. »

“What is it then?”

I looked at the fence that separated us.

A boundary.”

Her voice sounded cold again.

You will regret having humiliated this family like this.

I didn’t respond.

I ended the conversation.

Ten minutes later, her SUV disappeared from view further down the street