Chapter 1 - The Showing
The alert hit my phone at 4:47 p.m. while I was halfway to Greensboro.
I tapped the camera feed at a red light and saw a stranger standing inside my upstairs unit.
Then my sister stepped into frame with a key in her hand.
Dileia smiled at the couple beside her and pointed toward the refinished hardwood floors I had spent three weekends sanding.
“Original oak,” she said. “The owner did a beautiful job.”
The owner.
Me.
I pulled into a gas station so fast my tires hit the curb.
I watched Dileia lead the couple into my kitchen, open cabinets, and talk with the confidence of someone showing a property she had every right to sell.
I had given her no key.
No listing agreement.
No permission.
I called 911.
“My name is Renata Collins. I own 814 Caldwell Street in Charlotte. Three people are inside Unit B without my permission.”
The dispatcher asked whether I knew them.
“One of them is my sister.”
That sentence sounded worse out loud.
I sent the officer my deed, title policy, and insurance certificate before I reached my parents’ house.
Mom was lighting candles on her birthday cake when I walked in.
“Where’s Dileia?” I asked.
Mom looked toward the empty chair.
“She said she had a client.”
My phone rang.
Officer Reyes.
“We’re at the property. Your sister says she has authority to show it.”
“She doesn’t.”
“She also says the unit is listed for sale.”
My chest tightened.
“For sale?”
He gave me the price.
Three hundred ten thousand dollars.
Thirty-four thousand more than I had paid for the entire duplex.
I ended the call and opened the listing site.
There it was.
My address.
My photos.
My sister’s name beneath them.
May you like
Then I saw a line near the bottom that made me stop breathing.
Seller authorization on file.
