I Was The Temporary Guest In The Home I Helped Buy Chapter 08

I Was The Temporary Guest In The Home I Helped Buy Chapter 08

The room went silent.

Sabrina turned and saw Graham. Tears immediately spilled down her face.

“Graham, that’s not what I meant…”

Graham stared at her.

“Were you the one who tore up the supplemental agreement too?”

Sabrina bit her lip and said nothing.

Graham’s mother spoke with open contempt.

“You were too impulsive.”

Sabrina’s head snapped up.

“I was impulsive, Mrs. Mercer?”

“If you hadn’t said Nora’s family was poor and we should take the $50,000 while we could, why would I have helped you do any of this?”

The color slowly drained from Graham’s face.

“When you were doing all this behind my back, did either of you ever think about her?”

His mother frowned.

“Graham, we were looking out for you.”

Sabrina suddenly laughed.

“You think we never considered her? You allowed every bit of it.”

“You let them remove her garage access. You were the one who let me take the front seat. I could come and

go from the house because you gave me the door code.”

“And that night, after you’d been drinking, you were the one who came to me.”

“What could I possibly have taken from her without your permission?”

The air seemed to vanish from the room.

Graham stood frozen, unable to say a word.

She was right.

Sabrina’s cruelty had always been obvious. His mother’s schemes had been shameless.

But Graham was the one who had placed the knife in their hands.

He had given Sabrina privileges and his mother the confidence to keep pushing. Again and again, he had

treated Nora’s pain as though it meant nothing.

He had always told himself she was understanding.

But every disappointment had been another blade she forced herself to swallow. Eventually, there was no

way to choke down one more.

That night, Graham sat on the balcony of the house he and Nora had planned to share.

The two chairs were still there.

For the first time, he sat in one of them. The chair across from him remained empty.

The city lights burned brightly in the distance, but the house he had once taken for granted suddenly felt like

an empty shell.

During my second week at the new job, I saw Graham outside my office building.

He stood in front of a convenience store, holding a manila envelope.

Tessa glanced at him, then leaned close to my ear.

“Ex?”

I nodded.

She understood immediately.

“I’m getting coffee. I’ll be back in ten minutes to rescue you.”

Graham walked over to me.

He was still impeccably dressed, but no amount of careful grooming could hide the dark circles beneath his

eyes.

“Nora, I brought the paperwork.”

He held out the envelope.

“I prepared a separate written acknowledgment of the $50,000 debt to your parents and had it notarized.”

“I can add your name to the deed, and yours will be the only plate with garage access.”

I took the envelope without opening it.

“Thank you.”

His eyes reddened.

“Do we have to be this formal with each other?”

I looked at him.

“Graham, the only thing left between us is the money we need to settle.”

The words seemed to strike him. His shoulders sagged.

“I know I was wrong.”

“I’ve cut Sabrina off, and I made everything clear to my mother.”

“I threw out everything in that house that had anything to do with Sabrina.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not going back.”

He answered quickly.

“Why not? That was supposed to be your home too.”

“No.”

My voice remained calm.

“You’ve forgotten. You wouldn’t let me in.”

Graham froze.

His fingers tightened around the envelope, and his voice came out painfully hoarse.

“I’m sorry.”

“If I had known what my mother was doing and stopped her, would you have forgiven me?”

I looked at him.

“Graham, you knew exactly what was happening.”

“It benefited you, so you stood back and let other people wield the knife for you.”

The remaining color slowly disappeared from his face.

I continued, “Every time those knives cut me, you simply assumed I could take it.”

His eyes were red-rimmed.

“Nora…”

I handed the envelope back to him.

“I don’t need your acknowledgment of debt.”

“The court’s mediation notice came yesterday. Elise will contact you.”

He froze.

I walked around him and headed toward the office.

His strained voice came from behind me.

“Nora, do I really have no chance left?”

I stopped for a moment.

“No.”

Some doors are not stuck.

The people inside have closed them with their own hands.

I had knocked too many times before.

I was not going to knock again.