Mom’s Fake Fairness: The Fixed Family Draw Chapter 05

Mom’s Fake Fairness: The Fixed Family Draw Chapter 05 Empty House

Mom looked like she was going to pass out. Dad sank into his chair and stared at the table. Lily’s head swiveled back and forth between everyone, completely lost.

‘That’s not possible.” Mom’s voice was shaking. “We only put it in his name to make the mortgage process easier when he gets married. It was never a real transfer. That house is still ours!”

I pointed to the property records in the folder.

‘It’s all right here, official stamp and everything. The law only cares whose name is on the deed, and that name is James. Which means you’re both living in James’s house. So James can take care of you in your old age. That’s how this works, right?”

I looked around the table. “You wanted to hand everything to your son and dump all the responsibility on your daughter. Did you really think that was going to fly?”

Mom finally dropped the act. She sank to the floor and started wailing, slapping her thighs like the world was ending.

I can’t live like this! My own daughter, turning on her mother! You’re trying to kill us! I should’ve never

ad you!”

It was loud enough for the whole floor to hear, probably the floor above and below too. A year ago, that would’ve been enough to make me cave. I would’ve been embarrassed, apologized, written a check.

3ut standing there watching her perform, I just felt tired. And a little amused.

walked over and threw the front door wide open.

Go ahead, cry louder. Let the whole building come watch. Let them see exactly how you’ve been running his little scheme on your own daughter.”

And sure enough, a cluster of neighbors were already huddled at the top of the stairwell, pretending they hadn’t beep listening. They straightened up awkwardly when the door swung open.

I held up both documents so everyone could see them. “Since you’re all here, let me tell you what’s going ɔn. Six months ago, my parents secretly transferred this house into my brother’s name.

‘Then tonight, they tried to get me to draw lots for it, hoping I’d win the house and take on their retirement, not knowing the house was already gone. That was their plan. These are my wonderful parents.”

The hallway erupted.

“That’s awful, they can’t do that to their own kid.”

“She’s been buying things for this family left and right, and this is how they treat her?”

“That is just wrong. That is so wrong.”

Mom’s wailing died in her throat. Her face went dark red as the voices piled on.

She had spent her whole life caring about what people thought of her, and now I was dismantling that reputation right here in the hallway, pièce by piece.

ames shoved past her and grabbed for the door. “Riley, shut the door right now! You don’t air family business like this, what is wrong with you?”

I slapped him across the face.

The crack of it echoed in the stairwell. James stumbled back and stared at me with his hand pressed to his cheek, completely stunned.

‘How dare you hit me?”

‘Fuck off,” I said. “That one was for me. And for every single year spent thinking I was just unlucky.”

pushed past him, walked to my room, and grabbed the suitcase I had already packed. Then I called back oward the door one last time.

Boys, come on in!”

Three guys in moving company uniforms walked through the front door. I pointed at the TV. “Take it.”

Then I pointed at the French door refrigerator. “Take it.”

pointed at the leather sofa that nobody had even broken in yet. “Take it.”

even had them pull down the curtains.

ames threw himself in front of the movers. “What the hell are you doing? This is my house! You can’t just ake our stuff!”

I pulled out my phone and shoved the screen in his face, scrolling through receipt after receipt and payment record after payment record.

‘Look carefully. That TV? I bought it. Receipt’s in my name. The fridge? Also me. The sofa? I literally wrote a check for it two weeks ago. Every single thing in this living room has my name on it, and I have the receipts to prove it. So yeah, I can take it. I can throw it off a bridge if I want. What are you going to do about it?”

James had nothing. He just stood there and watched the apartment get cleared out.