“The homeowner has revoked permission for you to remain.
You need to collect your belongings and exit.”
Beatrice stared at him.
“Do you know who my son is?”
The officer glanced at Lucas.
“A guest whose permission to remain has also been revoked.”
Several relatives immediately began gathering their bags.
They had been bold when they believed Lucas owned the house.
The sight of the deed and uniformed officers changed their courage quickly.
Beatrice slammed her palm on the table.
“Nobody moves.”
A child stopped near the staircase, frightened by her voice.
His mother hurried over and pulled him close.
I hated that children had been brought into this.
They had done nothing wrong.
They had simply followed adults who had lied to them.
I looked at the families near the hallway.
“You have twenty minutes to take what you brought and leave.
No one will stop you from collecting your belongings.
Please do not take anything that belongs to me.”
One of Lucas’s aunts looked embarrassed.
“Felicity, I truly thought this was his home.”
“I know.”
She glanced at Lucas.
“He told us he closed on it three months ago.”
That lie was more detailed than I expected.
“He never paid for this house,” I said.
“My parents gave it to me before the engagement.”
Whispers spread through the room.
Lucas tried to regain control.
“Why does it matter who paid? We were getting married.
Everything would have become ours.”
Mara looked at him.
“That is not how ownership works.”
He ignored her and faced me.
“You called security on my family over a misunderstanding.
Do you understand how humiliating this is for me?”
I almost laughed.
He stood in my home after giving away my key, assigning my rooms, and inventing a purchase that had never happened.
Yet his humiliation was the emergency.
“I came home and found strangers moving into my bedroom,” I said.
“Your mother ordered me into my own kitchen.
You watched her do it.”
“She was stressed.”
“You laughed when she said you would control the property.”
“It was a joke.”
“You made eight copies of my key.”
“For convenience.”
“You told them I would sign the house over to you.”
His voice rose.
“Because that was the plan.”
The room quieted again.
I held his gaze.
“Whose plan?”
Lucas opened his mouth, then stopped.
