My Boyfriend Gave My House to His Three Childhood Friends Chapter 01

My Boyfriend Gave My House to His Three Childhood Friends Chapter 01

I used the inheritance my father left me to buy a house where my boyfriend and I could live after we got married.

It wasn’t until I moved in that I discovered my boyfriend, Ethan Walker, and his three childhood friends all had permanent fingerprint access.

I was the actual owner, yet all I had was a temporary passcode that expired every so often.

Ethan told me, “I’ve known Sophia and the others for more than twenty years. They’re basically family to me.”

Before long, my home office had become Sophia’s livestreaming studio.

The terrace was piled with things the three of them liked, and the entryway held only four pairs of matching slippers.

Then came my birthday.

I worked until after midnight, only to get home and find that my temporary passcode had expired at exactly the wrong time.

Through the window, I saw the four of them inside my house, celebrating Sophia’s birthday.

Ethan refused to let me in.

“Everyone’s having a good time. Just stay in a hotel tonight, yeah? Don’t come in and spoil it.”

I stopped knocking.

The next morning, I called a real estate agent and put the house up for sale.

They had forgotten one thing.

Permanent access didn’t make it their home.

…

The real estate agent answered while I was still waking up in my hotel room.

“Ms Carter, are you sure you want to sell?”

“I’m sure.”

The agent asked, “Is anyone still living at the property?”

I opened the home security app on my phone.

The living room was such a mess there was barely anywhere to step.

Empty bottles lay across the carpet, while lighting stands and packaging from last night’s livestream were piled beside the couch.

Ethan was in the kitchen making coffee for Sophia.

The other two childhood friends, Claire Brooks and Megan Reed, still hadn’t come out of the guest rooms.

The four of them looked completely at home, as though they were the real owners.

“They’ll be out today.”

After ending the call, I opened the smart-lock management page.

There were four permanent users.

Ethan Walker.

Sophia Bennett.

Claire Brooks.

Megan Reed.

My name wasn’t one of them.

When the renovation was finished, Ethan had told me the lock system wasn’t fully set up yet, so he’d given me a temporary passcode to use for the time being.

I hadn’t thought much of it.

After all, I’d bought the place for the two of us to live in after we got married.

Ethan was a designer, and I’d trusted him enough to leave the entire renovation in his hands.

Only now did I understand that the system had never been “unfinished”.

He had simply never intended to give me a permanent place in my own home.

I selected all four names and hit delete.

A message appeared on the screen.

[Confirm removal of all permanent access?]

I pressed Confirm, then sent the property address and scanned ownership documents to the real estate agent.

[You can come by this afternoon to assess the property.]

Only after I’d finished everything did I remember that yesterday had been my thirtieth birthday.

It had also been the birthday of one of Ethan’s friends.

Ethan had forgotten mine.

And I’d still gone out of my way to pick up a birthday cake for his childhood friend.

He’d messaged me that afternoon and asked me to collect it on my way home because he was too busy.

The cake had probably already been eaten by then.

I hadn’t even noticed whose name was written on it until last night.

It wasn’t Erin.

It was Sophia.

At ten that morning, I returned to the house.

Ethan was standing outside, pressing his finger to the lock again and again.

The moment he saw me, he demanded, “What’s going on? Is the lock broken?”

I entered the administrator code and opened the door.

He followed me inside, his face darkening.

“Why have all our fingerprints stopped working?”

“I removed them.”

The living room went dead silent.

Sophia poked her head out of the kitchen.

She was wearing my robe.

“Erin, was that really necessary? We all had a bit too much to drink last night. We knew it’d kick off if you came in, so we thought it’d be better if you stayed at a hotel and cooled off.”

She sounded as though she were explaining herself, but there wasn’t a trace of apology in her eyes.

Claire came downstairs yawning.

“It’s just a door lock. Put our fingerprints back in. We’re going to be round here all the time anyway.”