Part 1
“Who authorized you to divide my house as if I were already dead?”
The words escaped Maya’s lips the moment she stepped through the gate of the sprawling estate in Hidden Hills. For a brief second, even the security guard at the entrance held his breath in the sudden tension.
She had driven all the way from her quiet apartment in Silver Lake, keys clutched tightly in her hand. She was still feeling the heavy weight of her mother’s absence, a woman who had worked her entire life to leave her more than just money.
Her mother wanted her to have the certainty that she should never let herself be cornered by anyone. But upon arriving, Maya didn’t find a private moment with her husband to see the property for the first time.
Instead, she found Austin’s entire family waiting for her as if they were about to inaugurate a luxury hotel. Her mother-in-law, Martha, was the first one to approach her with an expectant look.
“Oh, you are finally here, and we were absolutely roasting out here in the sun. Let me see those keys, or was there some kind of legal problem with the notary?”
Maya withdrew her hand with a dry, guarded smile and told her that everything was ready. Her sister-in-law, Bridget, let out a high-pitched laugh as her six-year-old son carelessly kicked the tire of Maya’s old sedan.
“Well, it is no wonder they were in such a hurry to get here because this house must have cost a fortune. My brother certainly knew how to marry into the right family,” Bridget said while adjusting her dark glasses.
Maya felt a burning sensation in her chest, but she remained silent because she wanted to believe they were just there to see the place. She desperately wanted to think Austin wasn’t so naive as to invite them to stay.
He opened the front door, and as soon as the residence was revealed to them, the family rushed in like a stampede.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Bridget shouted as she collapsed onto an ivory sofa that still had decorative glass wrapped in plastic on the coffee table.
The young boy put his feet up on the expensive sofa with his dirty sneakers still on and started jumping excitedly. Austin just burst out laughing at the sight.
“Leave him alone, honey, he is just a child having some fun.”
Maya clenched her jaw as Martha went straight to the master bedroom on the first floor. She sat on the double bed to test the mattress with her hands and made a loud announcement.
“This room is absolutely perfect for us because I don’t go up and down stairs like I used to, so I will stay right here.”
“No, Mom, that is the main bedroom,” Austin said in a conciliatory tone, not to defend his wife’s space, but merely to negotiate the layout. “There is another very good room upstairs with a dressing room and a terrace that you would like just as much.”
Meanwhile, Austin’s younger brother, Shane, was already inspecting the second-floor rooms with his wife.
“This room has very good light, and my girls could sleep here when we move our things in,” Shane’s wife remarked.
Maya felt like she couldn’t breathe as she realized what was happening. “When exactly are we moving?” she asked, but her voice was drowned out by their excitement.
On the terrace, her father-in-law, Bill, contemplated the view with his hands behind his back.
“This place is perfect for some top-notch barbecues, and I can already imagine Sundays here with the whole family.”
Maya felt invisible, as if the house had magically appeared in Austin’s hands and her mother’s inheritance was a community prize for his relatives. Austin returned to her side with a proud smile and put his arm around her shoulders.
“Did you see it? It turned out perfect, and I thought the big upstairs room could be for my parents while Shane and his family take the other one.”
He kept talking without noticing her expression, suggesting that Bridget could move into the guest room once she left her apartment.
“That way we all help each other out, and it is only logical since the house is so big.”
Maya pulled away from his arm and looked at him slowly. “Logical for whom, Austin?”
Finally, there was a heavy silence in the room as everyone turned around to look at her. Austin frowned and asked her what was wrong with the plan.
Maya looked up and fixed her eyes on each of them, asking with a calmness that was more frightening than a scream who told them the house was for them to live in.
“What do you mean by that? It is your house, isn’t it?” Martha exclaimed in shock.
“Are you suddenly afraid to share with your family?” Bridget added while crossing her arms.
Austin grabbed Maya’s arm tightly and hissed that she shouldn’t make a scene that made his family look bad. She looked down at his hand, then back into his eyes, and told him the only scene was them coming in here to divide up loot.
She took a beige folder out of her bag and held it up in front of everyone.
“This house is not our newlywed home,” she said in a firm, icy voice that was impossible to argue with.
Part 2
Austin let go of her arm as if her skin had suddenly turned into burning coals. “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice losing all the certainty it had just moments before.
Maya opened the folder and pulled out a copy of the notarized document for everyone to see.
“I am talking about the fact that this property is registered solely and exclusively in my name.”
Martha stepped forward with an indignant look. “So what? You are already married, and what is yours belongs to my son by law.”
“No, ma’am, not when we never even discussed this, and especially not when you decided everything without even asking me,” Maya replied firmly.
Shane let out a nervous little giggle and told her not to exaggerate because they were just looking at the house. Maya pointed to the stained sofa and the dirt footprints on the freshly polished floor as proof of their intrusion.
“You didn’t come here to look at a house; you came here to settle into a palace you didn’t pay for.”
Bridget’s eyes widened in offense as she claimed that Maya’s true colors were finally coming out now that she had money.
“The money didn’t change me, but seeing how all of you assumed you could take ownership of something that cost you nothing certainly did.”
Austin ran a hand through his hair and told her that she was making a huge deal out of nothing. He insisted that if the house belonged to her, it obviously belonged to the couple as well.
“That is the problem, Austin, because you are confusing our life with your personal decisions for your family.”
The phrase threw him off completely because she had never spoken to him with such authority before. For two years, Maya had given in on almost everything, from weekly visits to “temporary” loans that were never repaid.
“So why did you even buy this house if we aren’t going to live here?” Martha snapped.
NEXT PART 👇👇
