Chapter 8 - LOCKED OUT
Garret’s reaction lasted fourteen minutes.
Henry sent the footage to Natalie.
Natalie sent it to me.
I watched it once.
Only once.
Garret demanded entry.
Henry refused.
Garret threatened police.
Henry invited him to call them.
Garret claimed ownership.
Henry showed him the recorded deed.
Then Garret said the sentence that ended any sympathy I still had.
“My wife had no authority to sell this house.”
Henry calmly replied,
“According to the title company, your wife was the only person who did.”
Garret called me immediately afterward.
I didn’t answer.
He called again.
And again.
Eleven times.
Then Evelyn started.
Then Tessa.
I blocked Tessa.
Muted Evelyn.
Left Garret open because Natalie wanted his messages preserved.
At 9:04 a.m., he wrote:
You embarrassed me in front of my family.
Not:
I’m sorry.
Not:
How is Maya?
Not:
Can we talk?
You embarrassed me.
At 9:11:
You’re destroying our marriage over a misunderstanding.
At 9:16:
Mom says you need to come home.
I stared at that one.
Come home.
To a house that no longer existed for either of us.
At 9:32:
If you think you’re keeping Maya from me, think again.
That was the first message I forwarded to Natalie immediately.
Her response came seconds later.
Do not engage.
At noon, Garret was served with divorce papers.
Paige and I were eating soup in her kitchen when Natalie called.
“He’s been served.”
I closed my eyes.
“How did he react?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I do.”
“He asked the process server whether you were insane.”
Paige rolled her eyes.
“Predictable.”
Natalie continued.
“Then he called my office.”
“What did he say?”
“That you’re unstable.”
There it was again.
The strategy.
Postpartum.
Emotional.
Unstable.
Incompetent.
I understood exactly what they were doing.
“Document everything.”
“We are.”
That afternoon, Garret requested an emergency custody hearing.
His filing claimed I had made “erratic financial decisions” immediately after childbirth.
The sale of Redwood Crest was Exhibit A.
Paige read the filing beside me.
“He’s using the house against you.”
“Yes.”
“He planned this.”
“Maybe not this exact version.”
“But close.”
I looked at the filing.
Then I smiled.
Paige frowned.
“What?”
“He made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He put the house into evidence.”
“So?”
“So now Natalie gets to explain why I sold it.”
And that meant the court would hear about the changed code.
The forged deed.
The postnuptial agreement.
The debt.
The plan to put Redwood Crest into a trust.
Everything.
May you like
Garret wanted the house to prove I was unstable.
Instead, he had just opened the door for me to prove why I no longer trusted him.
