My father clutched it against his chest.
Gavin pulled out his phone.
“This is ridiculous.
I’ll show you the reservations.
Once she sees the numbers, she’ll stop acting emotional.”
He tapped the screen several times.
His expression changed.
He tapped again.
“What?” my father asked.
Gavin turned away.
“What happened?”
“The account is paused.”
Leah looked at me through the window.
Before sunrise, after finding the payment-processing envelope, she had helped me send a formal dispute to the company.
We had provided the deed, identification, and written confirmation that Gavin had no authority to use my property or address.
The company had not decided who was guilty.
It had simply frozen activity while verifying the location and ownership.
But without access to incoming payments, Gavin’s plan had already begun to collapse.
“You contacted them?” he shouted toward the house.
“I notified them that my address was being used without permission,” I said.
“You had no right.”
The absurdity of that sentence silenced even my father.
Gavin began pacing beside the gate.
“I have expenses.
I paid for branding.
I paid for furniture.
I paid the deposits on the booking platform.”
“With whose authorization?” Leah asked.
He ignored her.
“We can still fix it,” he told me.
“Let us move in today.
We’ll run the first few weekends, reimburse the startup costs, and then we’ll renegotiate.”
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard the offer.”
“No.”
My mother finally placed the hydrangea on the ground.
“Khloe, your brother made a mistake.
Ruining him will not undo it.”
“I am not ruining him.”
“You froze his money.”
“He took money using my house.”
“He thought the family would agree.”
“He told me to find somewhere else.”
Her mouth tightened.
“He was stressed.”
For years, Gavin’s stress had been treated like a storm everyone else had to shelter from.
My stress was treated like bad manners.
I looked at the little cracked mug on the kitchen island.
Then I looked back at my family.
“The truck leaves,” I said.
“None of you enter the property.
Gavin removes my address from his company filings and every platform where he used it.
All reservations connected to this house are canceled and refunded.
You will communicate through Leah.”
My father shook his head.
“You cannot dictate terms to your family.”
