Chapter 12: The Eviction
The next three days were a mess. My parents dragged their feet, tried to hide boxes of important papers, and called every cousin and family friend they had to tell them I was “kicking them out with nowhere to go after they raised me.” But once those people saw the documents and heard the full story—about the trust, the deal with Mark, the slap, the way they’d treated Lily—they stopped answering their calls one by one.
When the moving truck showed up to take their things to the temporary apartment Ray had arranged for them, Mom tried to grab Lily’s hand as she walked past. “Come with us, sweetie. Your mom’s being mean and greedy. You’ll be happier with us.”
Lily pulled her hand back fast, shook her head hard, and stepped right into my arms, wrapping hers around my waist. “Grandma hurt my mom,” she said, loud and clear so everyone could hear. “And you stole her money. I don’t want to go with you.”
Mom’s face crumpled. For the first time, I saw her look truly old, truly defeated—like she was finally realizing how much she’d lost.
They left with three suitcases and nothing else. I watched their car pull out of the driveway and disappear around the corner, and didn’t feel a single bit of regret.
Then I walked back onto the porch, looked up at that tattered flag waving in the wind, and smiled.
This was my house now. Ours.
