I stepped into the doorway. “Put it on speaker.”
Melissa froze.
“What?”
“You wanted everyone involved. Put it on speaker.”
She looked at Officer Grant, perhaps hoping the officer would stop me. Officer Grant only lifted an eyebrow.
Melissa’s jaw tightened. Then, with a dramatic jab, she switched the call to speaker.
Aunt Linda’s voice blasted into the foyer. “Amanda? Have you lost your mind?”
“No, Aunt Linda. I found my deed.”
There was a pause.
“What?”
“This house is mine. Only mine. Melissa moved people into it while I was on a business trip. Mom told me to move out so Melissa could be happy. The police are here because I did not give anyone permission to live here.”
On the other end, muffled voices erupted.
Then Uncle Joe’s voice came through. “Wait, Melissa said your mother bought that house for both of you.”
My entire body went still.
Melissa’s face drained of color.
I looked at my mother.
She whispered, “Amanda…”
Aunt Linda continued, “She said you were staying there temporarily until Melissa and Derek were ready to settle in. She said you knew.”
The foyer seemed to tilt.
For weeks, maybe months, they had not merely planned to occupy my home. They had rewritten my life around me. In their version, I was not the owner. I was the placeholder. The temporary resident. The selfish older sister refusing to step aside.
Officer Grant’s eyes sharpened. “Ms. Blake, do you want to make a report for fraud?”
Melissa gasped. “Fraud? That’s ridiculous.”
Derek set down the box he was carrying. “Melissa.”
She rounded on him. “Do not start.”
“Did you tell my parents this house was yours?”
“I told them it would be ours.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It was supposed to become the same thing!” she shouted.
