Chapter 3

Lily Vance? I froze. My girlfriend's name was Lily Vance.

"Call your daughter right now and have her come down here," the officer told Martha.

"I already called my sister," the younger woman sneered at me. "She's already on her way."

Twenty minutes later, Lily ran through the door, completely out of breath. The moment I saw her, my jaw dropped. It really was her. My girlfriend of one year.

"What's going on?" She first looked at her mother and sister sitting on the couch.

"Oh, Lily, thank God you're here! Look at this guy! He just barged into my home, claiming the place is his! And these two cops are actually taking his side! I swear they're all in on it together!" The moment Martha saw Lily, she literally slid off the couch onto the floor, wailing and crying.

"Mom! Mom, get up!" Lily rushed over, helping her mother back onto the couch.

When she finally turned around, her eyes met mine. "Ethan?"

I stared at her coldly. She looked incredibly guilty. "Ethan, aren't you supposed to be on a business trip? Why are you back so early?"

"If I didn't come back early, I wouldn't have found out that you gifted my half-million-dollar condo to your family," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ethan, it's not like that. Let me explain." Lily grabbed my arm, trying to pull me to the corner of the room. I was so furious that I stood rigid, and she couldn't budge me an inch.

"Ethan," she whispered, her voice tinged with annoyance when she couldn't move me. "Come over here. We need to talk in private."

I shrugged and followed her to the corner. I wanted to hear what kind of absolute garbage excuse she was going to cook up.

"My mom hasn't been feeling well lately, and she needed to come to the city for medical treatments. You know how expensive hotels are here—like two hundred dollars a night! I just figured since your apartment was sitting empty anyway, they could stay here for a bit," she said, her eyes darting around.

"Oh?" I let out a cold laugh. "So you decided, without even asking me, to let your mother and sister move into my apartment?"

"Ethan," she said, looking offended. "What do you mean, 'your apartment'? We've been dating for a year. What's yours is mine! Besides, the place was just sitting here empty. Letting them stay here was basically doing you a favor by housewarming and airing the place out."

The sheer audacity! I needed her to do me a favor?

"Housewarming? Is your idea of housewarming turning my brand-new, beautifully renovated apartment into a landfill?"

Lily looked around the messy living room, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, you know how older people are. They aren't as obsessed with cleanliness. That’s why you need a woman in your life, Ethan! Once you're back from your trip, we can move in together, and you can help my mom keep the place clean. Isn't that perfect?"

Hearing this, the anger I had been desperately trying to suppress finally erupted. "Let's get one thing straight. First, we are not married! You letting your family move in without my consent is illegal trespassing. Second, I don't need your family to 'warm' my house. And finally, I am giving you exactly three days to get your mother and sister the hell out of my apartment!"

Lily's face flushed with anger, and she shrieked, "Ethan Sterling! How dare you speak to me like that! That is my mother and my sister! They are going to be your family too! What's wrong with letting them stay in your apartment for a bit? Why are you being so incredibly cheap and petty? I had no idea you were such a selfish, penny-pinching loser!"