“Odalys, sweetheart, open the gate so we can talk.

This is all just a little misunderstanding.

And of course your mother’s welcome to rest here with us.”

With us. She was standing on the sidewalk in front of a house she’d never set foot in, and she was already talking like she lived there.

I stepped to the intercom and kept my voice level.

“This house was bought with my own money, before any of it was ever mixed with yours, under a premarital agreement.