The shelves had been removed.
“What happened to my office?”
Lauren hesitated.
“My brother needed somewhere to work.”
Her brother.
Of course.
I walked through the house and realized the changes went far beyond my belongings.
My furniture had been moved.
My photographs were gone from the walls.
The guest room had become her brother’s bedroom.
It felt as if someone had slowly erased me from my own life.
Then Lauren said something I will never forget.
“You should be grateful I’m letting you stay here.”
I looked at her.
“Letting me?”
She nodded.
“Things changed while you were gone.”
That night, I didn’t sleep.
I sat in the living room surrounded by garbage bags containing nine months of my life.
The next morning, I called my lawyer.
I had purchased the house before our marriage, and the ownership documents were still in my name.
That was when I learned something even more disturbing.
