Chapter 6 - The House Chooses Nothing
Colin was ordered to leave the property that night while the ownership and fraud issues were reviewed.
He tried to argue that it was his home too.
Lauren looked at Piper’s wet boots.
“You ended that argument when you put her outside.”
Rebecca collected several of Colin’s belongings and placed them in his truck. She did not ask Lauren to forgive him or keep the family together.
Brooke left separately.
Before going, she apologized.
“I knew he was married,” she admitted. “But he told me it was over. I should have verified that before coming into your home.”
Lauren did not comfort her.
But she recognized the difference between responsibility and excuse.
Police photographed the porch, the backpack, and the missing coat found inside a hall closet beneath Colin’s luggage.
The evidence showed he had packed Piper’s belongings but deliberately left the coat behind.
He claimed it had been an oversight.
Lauren no longer debated his explanations.
David secured an emergency hold on the fraudulent property filing. Because the home had been purchased partly through Lauren’s separate inheritance and remained titled solely in her name, Colin could not legally transfer it without her verified consent.
The refinance collapsed.
The proposed business never received funding.
And the new life Colin had arranged inside Lauren’s home lasted less than one afternoon.
The Christmas decorations remained.
Lauren removed the white stocking from the mantel.
She did not tear it.
She placed it in the evidence box with everything else.
May you like
Objects were not guilty.
People were.
