Chapter 2: The Key That Opened Nothing
Lorraine called Ryan before she even left the porch.
I watched the entire thing through the security camera.
Her face was turning red.
She stabbed the call button with the kind of force usually reserved for emergencies.
Ryan answered immediately.
"Mom?"
"My key doesn't work!"
Ryan frowned.
"What do you mean it doesn't work?"
"I mean your wife locked me out!"
Upstairs, I muted the audio and smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was predictable.
For three years, Lorraine had walked into my home whenever she pleased.
No phone call.
No warning.
No invitation.
She had rearranged furniture.
Criticized my cooking.
Opened private drawers.
Even entered our bedroom more than once.
Ryan always dismissed it.
"She's family."
No.
She was entitled.
There was a difference.
Twenty minutes later, Ryan stormed into my office.
"What did you do?"
I calmly looked up from my laptop.
"I improved security."
"You changed my mother's access."
"Yes."
His jaw tightened.
"You had no right."
That sentence almost made me laugh.
Instead, I opened a folder and slid a document across the desk.
Ryan glanced down.
Then froze.
Property Deed.
Owner: Amelia Bennett.
My name.
Only my name.
His expression shifted.
Confusion.
Then discomfort.
Then anger.
"You did this before we got married."
"Correct."
"Why?"
"Because I bought the house."
For several seconds he simply stared.
As though seeing reality for the first time.
Then his phone rang again.
Lorraine.
Demanding answers.
Demanding control.
Demanding entry.
For the first time, Ryan didn't know what to tell her.
May you like
Because there was nothing to tell.
The house was never his.
