He Gave My Room to Her, So I Took My Life Back novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Family Vote

Brooke clears her name with the principal, then faces a typed house agreement and a three-to-one family vote, cuts off Tori's phone line and Brent's truck payment at the table, hands back the ring, and finds the joint account emptied into the family brand.

At 7:30 on Monday, my principal turned her laptop around so I could see the video.

It was Tori's forty seconds, with a hundred thousand views under it.

"I've watched it four times," she said. "Tell me what's missing."

I took out my phone.

The school nurse had filmed the hallway from behind Brent's shoulder, all two minutes of it.

My principal watched it through once and sat back.

"Both parent emails came from accounts made on Sunday," she said. "I'm not worried about this video, Brooke."

"I'm worried about the next one," she added.

"So am I," I said.

She let me go to my office.

That night I came home to a sheet of paper taped to the refrigerator.

It was typed, with a family crest in the corner that Tori had made.

HOUSE AGREEMENT. Primary bedroom: Kendra (temporary, six months). Brooke: guest room. Gatherings: clues only.

Below it were four signatures, and a blank line for mine.

The three Prescotts sat around the dining table with Kendra at the head of it.

"Family meeting," Colby said. "Sit."

I stayed standing.

"We've had a hard weekend," he said. "So we're voting. It's how real families decide."

"Fine," I said. "Vote."

Colby raised his hand. Brent raised his, and Tori raised hers.

Kendra folded her hands in her lap.

"I don't think I should vote on your house," she said softly. "I'll go along with whatever Brooke needs."

"Say you want the room, Kendra," Brent said.

"I want whatever makes everyone comfortable," she said.

She never took her eyes off me while she said it.

"Three to one," Colby said, with a little smile. "The agreement stands."

"It doesn't," I said.

I pulled out a chair, sat down and opened my phone.

"Tori. Your phone line is on my plan."

Tori's face changed.

"I've paid for it for two years, and you've never once sent me a dollar. It shuts off at midnight."

"You can't do that," she said.

I turned the screen so she could see the confirmation.

"Brent. Your truck payment comes out of my checking account on the first of every month. The next one won't."

Brent shoved his chair back. "That's a loan I took for this family!"

"It's a loan I paid for you," I said. "I'll pay my half of this house. Nobody else's anything."

For a moment nobody spoke.

Colby leaned across the table.

"You're doing this over a bedroom?"

"I'm doing it over every small thing you took," I said. "A cup of coffee. A restaurant. The seat next to you in the car. And the bedroom."

I slid the ring off my finger and set it on the table between the two of them.

It made a tiny click against the wood.

"I'm not wearing that into the guest room," I said. "I'm staying in the primary. Kendra, the guest room is yours until Saturday."

"Of course," Kendra said. She looked down at the ring and her voice shook. "I'm so sorry this happened."

Colby picked up the ring and slipped it into his pocket.

Then, to my surprise, he smiled again.

"Go ahead and keep playing the strong woman," he said. "Check the house account."

I frowned.

"The joint account," he said. "The one the mortgage comes out of."

The others stood and filed out of the room.

Kendra stopped beside my chair on the way out.

"Brooke," she said gently. "Would you do one small thing for me?"

"What?"

"Leave the curtains open in the primary, in the mornings. It's the only room that gets full sun."

"It makes my chest feel lighter just to walk past it," she said. "I know it's silly."

"Fine," I said, because it was easier.

She squeezed my hand, and her fingers were cold.

When she was gone, I opened the banking app.

The joint account held two hundred and twelve dollars.

Three weeks of my deposits were gone, along with the paint money and the two months of mortgage I had paid in advance.

The last transfer had gone out on Sunday at 11:50 p.m., to an account called The Prescott Table LLC.

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