Margaret and Thomas Reed left a little while later.
Patricia left right after them. She didn’t say goodbye.
Daniel stayed in the armchair for a long time after the front door closed. Staring at that recorded deed.
“How long were you planning this?” he finally asked.
“I wasn’t planning anything, Daniel. I just sold my house. After you started going through my father’s files in the middle of the night.”
He didn’t say anything.
That night, I slept in the nursery with Lily. In the rocking chair. With the door locked.
The next morning, I heard his phone buzzing on the kitchen counter while he was in the shower. Over and over.
I looked at the screen.
Three missed calls. From a law office in Marietta. The attorney for the buyer he’d tried to sell my house to.
I looked at that screen for a long moment.
Then I walked away.
That wasn’t a problem I could fix for him anymore.
By breakfast, Daniel was pacing around the kitchen.
“I need to talk to you.”
I was sitting at the table feeding Lily a bottle.
“About what?”
“The house.”
“There’s no house for us to negotiate about, Daniel.”
He blew out a hard breath.
“The buyer wants his money back. His lawyer’s talking about suing me. And maybe the district attorney.”
“That sounds reasonable,” I said. “You took his money.”
“I didn’t take it. It’s in escrow.”
“You told him you owned a house you didn’t own. So he’d give you his money.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“I didn’t know the house was already sold.”
“That part’s true,” I said.
“But I didn’t know you were going to sell it!”
Something tightened in my chest.
“You’re still talking about my decision like it was the betrayal, Daniel.”
“I was trying to protect our family.”
“No,” I said quietly. “You were trying to take control of something that belonged to me.”
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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