Chapter 2: The Letter That Changed Everything
The letter arrived on a Thursday.
I know because Mia called me at 9 a.m.
and she wasn't cheerful anymore.
"What is this?"
"A letter from my lawyer."
"You actually did it." Her voice had shifted.
Something underneath it now.
Not quite fear.
But close.
"I told you I would."
"Thomas, this is insane.
Over a couch?"
"Over my property.
Over a year of unpaid rent.
Over everything you documented for me when you sent that photo."
Silence.
"You can't prove anything."
"I have receipts for every piece of furniture.
I have your texts promising to move out.
I have twelve months of bank statements.
And I have a photo of you sitting on my couch, laughing."
She hung up.
Twenty minutes later, Karen called.
"You need to stop this right now.
You're destroying this family."
"I didn't destroy anything, Karen."
"Your father is devastated."
"Then maybe he should have called me before he wrote that message in the group chat."
She went quiet.
Then, slowly: "What group chat?"
I paused.
She didn't know I had seen it.
And the way she said it — that small hesitation — told me something I hadn't expected.
May you like
Karen hadn't written that message.
Someone else had access to my father's phone.
