“That contains every single piece of your property,” I said flatly.
Garrett turned completely pale as he looked at the luggage line. “How long have you been preparing this behind my back?”
“Ever since the moment I read the text message conversation between you and your mother,” I answered.
He froze on the spot. “Did you go through my personal phone?”
“I found out that you were actively planning to humiliate me in my own home on my birthday, so yes, I read it,” I replied without hesitation.
“Paige, my mom just wanted us to spend time together,” he stammered weakly.
“Your mother wanted to test whether I was an obedient servant, you willingly agreed to participate in her plan, and this morning you chose to throw ice water on me because she told you to prove who was the boss,” I said firmly.
“I was just nervous about the timing!” he shouted back.
“No, you were simply obeying her orders like you always do,” I corrected him instantly.
Before he could open his mouth to argue further, his phone rang loudly with an incoming call from Tabitha, followed immediately by a text notification. “We just parked downstairs and we are coming up the elevator right now.”
I grabbed the first heavy suitcase, pulled it out into the public hallway, and set it down firmly on the carpeted floor.
“Paige, stop doing this right now because my mother is about to walk up to the door!” Garrett pleaded in a panic.
“That is perfect,” I said as I wheeled the second suitcase out into the corridor alongside his personal gear bags. “That way she can see you clearly as you leave.”
“Leave to go where?” he asked with rising desperation.
I held the door wide open and looked him dead in the eye. “To go live with her.”
As Garrett stood paralyzed in the hallway surrounded by all his packed possessions, we heard the mechanical hum of the elevator coming to a stop on our floor. Inside were Lorraine, Tabitha, and three sleepy children, fully believing they were about to show me my place, entirely unaware that the locked door ahead of them was about to change their family forever.
PART 3
The elevator doors slid open, and Lorraine stepped out first while carrying a large paper bag filled with breakfast pastries. Right behind her came Tabitha, who was trying to keep her three tired children moving along the quiet hallway.
Lorraine’s cheerful expression vanished the instant she saw Garrett standing outside my apartment door surrounded by packed luggage. “What on earth are you doing standing out here with all these bags?”
Garrett kept his head down and refused to make eye contact with her. “Paige kicked me out of the apartment.”
Lorraine let out a loud, disbelieving laugh. “What do you mean she kicked you out of your own home?”
“The home belongs entirely to her, Mom,” Garrett admitted in a hushed voice.
The last trace of amusement vanished from my mother in law’s face as she marched straight up to the front door and began pounding her fist heavily against the wood. “Paige! Open this door right now!”
