CHAPTER 3: GET OUT
“No,” my mother said sharply. “That’s not real.”
She grabbed the document from the table and scanned it frantically.
My sister stood up. “This has to be fake. She wouldn’t—she can’t—”
Robert remained calm.
“You are welcome to challenge it in court. But until then, the ownership is legally binding.”
Jason finally spoke for the first time all night.
“So… Hannah owns this house?”
No one answered him.
My mother’s face flushed red with humiliation and rage.
She turned to me.
“You did this.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“You manipulated him. You made him do this before he died.”
My stomach dropped.
Even now. Even with proof in front of her eyes.
She still found a way to blame me.
Robert stepped forward slightly.
“Ma’am, I suggest you choose your next words carefully. You are currently a guest in someone else’s property.”
The word guest shattered something in her.
My mother’s voice turned cold.
“You want me out?”
I didn’t answer.
She walked toward me slowly, her heels clicking against the floor.
“You’re really going to throw your own mother out?”
My hands trembled.
“I didn’t do this,” I said quietly. “Dad did.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Then you choose him over your family?”
That hit harder than the slap.
For a moment, I said nothing.
Then I spoke.
“I didn’t choose anything. You already did that when you hit me.”
Silence.
My sister scoffed. “This is ridiculous. We’re not leaving.”
Robert nodded once.
“That is your right. However, ownership includes the right to revoke residency.”
He turned to me.
“Miss Brooks?”
The entire room held its breath.
I looked around.
At the dining table.
At the expensive chairs my father once saved months to buy.
At the people who decided I didn’t matter five minutes ago.
And I finally understood something.
I wasn’t being thrown out tonight.
I had been pushed out a long time ago.
I straightened.
“I want them gone.”
No shouting.
No anger.
Just certainty.
My mother froze.
“You wouldn’t.”
But I didn’t look at her anymore.
Robert nodded.
“I’ll arrange it.”
He stepped aside and made a call.
My mother’s voice cracked.
“Hannah—this is your home because of me too!”
I finally looked at her.
“No,” I said softly. “It isn’t.”
Jason stood up slowly, almost like he didn’t want to be part of the scene anymore.
My sister grabbed her bag.
“This isn’t over.”
Robert replied without emotion.
“It is for tonight.”
And one by one, they left.
The door shut.
May you like
And for the first time in my life…
The house was silent in a way that felt like mine.
