Chapter 2

I had been living in this luxury condo building for a year.

When I bought the apartment, I also bought a private parking spot on the B1 level.

The space was huge and came with its own power supply and EV charger, left behind by the previous owner.

Since I didn’t own an electric car and drove an older gas sedan, the charger had just been sitting idle.

A few months ago, I was traveling a lot for work and often left my car at the office.

When I finally had a moment to check my utility bills, I noticed my parking spot's electricity costs had spiked by nearly a hundred dollars.

This month, it was over a hundred and twenty.

I thought the meter was broken.

But when I went down to the garage to check, I froze.

Parked right in my spot was a brand-new, white hybrid SUV.

The charging nozzle was firmly plugged into the car, its indicator light blinking happily.

I recognized the car immediately.

It belonged to Brandon, the son of my neighbor, Mildred Gable.

Mildred was in her fifties and liked to pretend she was the "neighborhood sweetheart."

Whenever anything happened in the building, she was always there to stick her nose in.

When I first moved in, she had knocked on my door a few times to borrow coffee pods and sugar.

I never expected that she would not only borrow sugar, but also my parking spot and my electricity.

I didn't make a scene. I took a photo and posted it in the building's Snapchat group.

"Whose car is this? You've parked in the wrong spot. Please move it."

After half an hour, there was no reply.

I went straight across the hall and knocked on her door.

Mildred opened it, holding a spatula.

"Oh, Lynn! What's up?"

"Mrs. Gable, is your son's car parked in my spot? He's also using my private EV charger."

Her eyes darted around, and she slapped her thigh.

"Oh, goodness! What a misunderstanding. My boy came home late last night and couldn't find a spot. He saw yours was empty and just borrowed it for the night. The charging cable? Oh, he probably just plugged it in on a whim. Young boys don't know any better."

Borrowed for the night?

I pulled up the utility bill on my phone.

"Mrs. Gable, this bill isn't for just one night. I checked the app's history, and there have been charging records for months."

Mildred’s expression shifted, but she quickly forced a smile.

"We're neighbors, why be so petty? It's just a few dollars of electricity. I'll have him throw you a small tip later."

With that, she slammed the door in my face.

Standing in the hallway, I laughed out loud from sheer anger.

It wasn’t just "a few dollars." It was hundreds of dollars.

And she hadn’t even mentioned moving the car.

When I went downstairs that evening, the car was still there.

I called the building's security guard.

The guard ran the plates and called Brandon.

Brandon sounded incredibly annoyed on the phone.

"I'm out of town on business, and I took the keys with me. I can't move it. Just wait until I get back this weekend."

The call disconnected.

The guard looked at me helplessly.

"Ms. Carter, you see... the owner isn't here. We can't tow it from a private deeded spot without a formal process."

I got it.

They were betting on the fact that I couldn't do anything to them.