Part 5

My hands started shaking.

“You planned this before I closed?”

Megan suddenly shouted, “I had nowhere else to go!”

But something still didn’t make sense.

The closing date had changed twice.

Only four people knew the final date.

Me.

My real estate agent.

My mortgage officer.

And my parents.

Then Dad said something that made the entire room go silent.

“Claire, before you overreact, there’s something about the down payment you need to understand.”

I stared at him.

“My down payment?”

Mom’s face went pale.

“Dennis, don’t.”

But he continued.

“We helped make this house possible.”

I almost laughed again.

My parents had not contributed a dollar.

Every cent of my down payment had come from my savings account.

At least, that was what I believed.

Then Dad reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded document.

It had my address printed across the top.

And my name underneath.

But beside my name was another name I had never expected to see connected to my property.

Megan Parker.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

I grabbed the document from Dad.

It wasn’t a deed.

It was a draft.

A proposed “family occupancy agreement” written by a lawyer who apparently knew my father through his business.

According to the document, Megan would live in my house for twelve months without rent, paying only utilities. After that, I would supposedly allow her to remain for another year at “below-market family rent.”

My signature line was blank.

Megan’s wasn’t.

She had signed it four days before I received the keys.