“Hello, Mrs. Mary?” a sharp, professional male voice boomed through the speaker. “This is David from Horizon Realty Trust. I’m just calling to confirm that the wire transfer has cleared on your end, and the deed transfer has been officially recorded with the county.”
“Yes, David, I see the funds. Thank you,” I said calmly.
“Perfect. Just wanted to let you know that our field team has just arrived at the Pines Tower building. Since the current residents refused to answer our emails this morning, we are moving forward with our standard operational procedure for this property tier.”
Rodrigo lunged toward the phone. “What operational procedure?! What are you doing to my apartment?!”
There was a brief pause on the line before David spoke again, his tone completely devoid of empathy. “Am I speaking with the minority shareholder, Mr. Rodrigo? Mr. Rodrigo, as per our acquisition notice sent to your email at 6:00 AM, your apartment has been registered as a corporate co-living rental space. Since you occupy the master bedroom, our team is currently arriving with a locksmith to modify the locks on the other two bedrooms, the study, and the main living area.”
Vanessa grabbed the phone, screaming into it. “You can’t do that! That’s our home! We live there!”
“You own 38% of the square footage, ma’am,” David replied coldly. “You have exclusive rights to the master bedroom and bathroom. The rest of the common areas, including the kitchen, living room, and the remaining bedrooms, are now shared corporate property. In fact, our first two short-term tenants have already booked the secondary bedrooms via our platform. They are downstairs in the lobby right now, waiting to move their luggage in.”
Vanessa let out a blood-curdling shriek. Rodrigo looked like he was about to faint, his hand gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white.
“Mom, please, call them off!” Rodrigo begged, tears finally streaming down his face. “Tell them it was a mistake! We can’t live with strangers! Vanessa is terrified of people she doesn’t know! You’re destroying our lives!”
“I didn’t destroy anything, Rodrigo. I just gave you exactly what you asked for,” I said, standing up and picking up my empty coffee mug. “You told me Vanessa wanted to feel like the owner of her own house. Now, she owns exactly 38% of it. You told me you wanted space to make your own life. Now, you have all the space you can afford.”
I walked into the kitchen, leaving them standing in the wreckage of their arrogance.
Suddenly, Rodrigo’s phone started buzzing violently in his pocket. He pulled it out with a trembling hand. It was a call from the building’s front desk security.
He answered it on speaker, his voice barely a whisper. “Hello?”
“Mr. Rodrigo?” the building guard’s panicked voice came through. “You need to get up here right now. There are three men with a drilling machine changing the lock on your front door, and they are accompanied by two police officers holding a legal occupancy enforcement order. And Mr. Rodrigo… there’s something else. You need to look at the building’s security feed right now.”
Rodrigo’s eyes widened with a fresh wave of terror. “What? What do you mean? What else is happening?!”
The guard breathed heavily into the phone. “The two tenants who are moving into your spare rooms… one of them just introduced himself to the building staff. Mr. Rodrigo… it’s your wife’s ex-fiancé, the one who sued you last year…”
The line suddenly went dead.
Vanessa froze, the breath completely leaving her body as she stared at Rodrigo’s phone. Rodrigo slowly turned his head to look at his wife, his expression transforming from panic into a dark, horrifying realization.
