Chapter 13 - The House They Planned to Sell
The buyer story sounded impossible until Nora obtained the messages.
Megan had advertised our home as a forthcoming private sale to a small investment group.
She had sent photographs from a family barbecue, including Lily's bedroom window.
She had promised that the current occupants would vacate after the holidays.
One message described me as "a temporary obstacle."
I read that phrase until it lost all meaning.
Daniel claimed he hadn't known about the listing.
I wanted to believe him, but wanting had become a poor way to measure truth.
Our attorney advised on title precautions, documentation, and practical security measures while the financial dispute was evaluated.
Rachel helped me make an inventory of important papers.
We did not move into the house immediately.
Instead, we arranged a supervised visit to collect Lily's clothes, her rabbit, and the medicine she needed.
Daniel was there when we arrived.
He looked around the nursery as though seeing it for the first time.
"She still sleeps with the night-light," he said.
"Yes."
"I didn't know she was scared without it."
"You would have known if you had asked."
Lily's drawings lined the wall.
One showed three stick figures holding hands beneath an enormous sun.
Another showed two figures outside a house with a black square where the door should be.
Daniel stared at that one.
"Did she draw this?"
"Yesterday."
He touched the paper but didn't lift it from the wall.
I collected the drawings and folded them carefully into a folder.
At the front entrance, a delivery driver asked whether the house was being staged for sale.
I said no.
He showed me a printed work order for a staging consultation scheduled that weekend.
The contact name was Megan Hayes.
She had continued her plan even after we discovered it.
That night, I changed every password I could lawfully change on my own accounts and updated my security information.
Then I found a voicemail from Patricia.
"You'll regret embarrassing this family," she said.
"You still don't understand how much we control."
For once, the threat didn't make me feel small.
May you like
It made me call Nora.
