MY MOTHER THREW ME OUT OF THE HOUSE—NOT KNOWING I OWNED IT
MY MOTHER THREW ME OUT OF THE HOUSE—NOT KNOWING I OWNED IT
CHAPTER 1: GET OUT
The slap came out of nowhere.
My head snapped to the side.
The entire dining room fell silent.
I stared at my mother in disbelief.
She had never hit me before.
Not once.
Not in twenty-eight years.
But tonight she did.
In front of everyone.
Family.
Friends.
Neighbors.
Even my boyfriend.
All because I said one sentence.
"I don't think Chloe should get Dad's entire inheritance."
My younger sister smirked from the other side of the table.
Mom pointed toward the front door.
"Get out."
I blinked.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Her voice shook with anger.
"Get out of my house."
The words hurt almost as much as the slap.
My father had died six weeks earlier.
The grief was still crushing me.
Yet somehow my mother had already moved on to dividing everything.
And apparently I wasn't part of the plan.
"Mom..."
"No."
She cut me off.
"Chloe stayed and took care of me."
I laughed bitterly.
"She lives five minutes away."
My mother ignored me.
"You left for college."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"That was ten years ago."
"Exactly."
The room became painfully quiet.
Everyone knew this was wrong.
Nobody said anything.
Not even my boyfriend, Jason.
Coward.
My sister crossed her arms.
"If you don't like it, leave."
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
And suddenly everything made sense.
The expensive car.
The designer bags.
The sudden confidence.
She already knew.
She already knew she was getting everything.
I picked up my purse.
Fine.
If they wanted me gone, I'd leave.
Halfway to the door, someone knocked.
Three sharp knocks.
Everyone turned.
A man in a gray suit entered.
He carried a leather briefcase.
"Excuse me."
Nobody answered.
The man scanned the room.
Then looked directly at me.
"Miss Hannah Brooks?"
"Yes?"
He smiled politely.
"I've been trying to reach you."
My mother frowned.
"Who are you?"
The stranger opened his briefcase.
"I'm Robert Miller."
He paused.
"Your father's attorney."
The color drained from my mother's face.
And then he said something that made the entire room freeze.
May you like
"I believe there has been a misunderstanding about who owns this house."
END OF CHAPTER 1
