“So I stepped outside and called Mom,” he said. “Put her on speaker. Told her everything. Mom started asking Mandy questions. Dates. Contractor names. Basic stuff.”
“At first, Mandy cried.”
He paused.
“At first, Mandy cried,” he said. “Then she denied everything. Then she went silent. And then she came clean.”
I braced myself. “What did she say?”
“She saw a post online,” he said. “Some group looking to rent a private house for a Christmas party. Cash. No questions. She knew we’d be gone. Our house is bigger than hers. Fewer close neighbors. So she lied about the renovation to guilt us into saying yes.”
My mouth went dry.
“And fully planned to leave the mess for us.”
“She rented out our house?” I whispered.
He nodded. “She let strangers in. Took their money. And fully planned to leave the mess for us.”
I sat down at the table hard enough that my chair scraped.
“What did she say when you called her out?”
“She said she needed the money,” he answered. “That it was just one night. That she didn’t think it would get ‘that bad.’ Like that made it okay.”
“I told her she had to pay for everything.”
He looked up at me. “I told her she had to pay for everything. Cleaning. Damage. All of it. She crossed her arms and said she wasn’t paying a cent. Said we were ‘overreacting’ and ‘comfortable enough’ to handle it.”
Something in me went very, very calm.
“We’re done asking,” I said.
He studied my face. “What are you thinking?”
“We go back tomorrow,” I said. “And we stop being nice about it.”
The next day, we drove to Mandy’s apartment together.
The next day, we drove to Mandy’s apartment together.
She opened the door with puffy eyes and an annoyed expression.
“Again?” she said. “Can we not drag this out? It was a party, not a crime.”
I looked her in the eye.
“We’re filing a lawsuit,” I said.
She froze. “You’re joking.”
“You can’t do that. We’re family.”
“No,” I said. “You lied to gain access to our house. You rented it out without permission. You let strangers in. That’s illegal.”
Her face went pale.
“You can’t do that. We’re family.”
I pulled out my phone.
Continued on the next page
