Chapter 2: Someone Already Knew
I didn't confront them that night.
I needed to think clearly before I said another word.
The next morning I called a property attorney before anyone else in the house was awake.
I gave her my address and asked her to pull every document on record.
She called back in forty minutes.
Her voice was careful.
Too careful.
"Claire, there's a quitclaim deed filed against this property.
It was recorded eight weeks ago."
I couldn't speak.
"The signature on file…
matches yours."
"That is not my signature."
Silence.
"Someone filed it using your name.
I'd treat this as urgent."
I walked downstairs.
Dad was already at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, completely relaxed.
Like a man who had already won.
"You forged my signature," I said.
He didn't flinch.
"That's a serious accusation."
"You had eight weeks.
That's why you weren't worried last night."
He set down his cup slowly.
"All I know is that this family has lived here for three years and contributed to this household in ways that courts tend to recognize."
Mom appeared in the doorway.
She wouldn't look at me.
That told me everything.
Then Elena came downstairs holding her phone.
She saw my face and stopped halfway.
Behind her, I noticed something I hadn't seen before.
A second folder.
Sitting on the hallway shelf.
Thick.
Labeled in my father's handwriting.
May you like
Elena saw me looking at it.
She stepped in front of it.
