In conversations with his family, he had already been assigning rooms and speaking as if the house belonged to him entirely, even telling Lindsay that I would simply adapt to their presence without resistance.
He did not see me as a partner anymore, but as an obstacle that could be managed and eventually removed from control.
At four nineteen in the afternoon, a black vehicle stopped in front of the entrance, followed closely by another car carrying the rest of his family. I stood alone in the hallway of the now empty house, surrounded by silence and bare walls that echoed every movement.
Gavin stepped out first with a confident smile, followed by his mother Deborah, his father Franklin, and his sister Lindsay, all of them looking around as if they were arriving at a place that already belonged to them.
He entered the security code at the door, but the system rejected it immediately, and confusion spread across their faces.
I opened the door slightly, just enough for them to see inside, where nothing remained except empty space and a single envelope attached to the wall with his name written clearly on it. They all froze as the reality of the situation began to settle in.