He had, without knowing it, described the exact mechanism by which I was about to remove him from the premises.

Because Camden held no ownership interest in the property — not a fraction, not a nail of it — his right to live there existed only through me, as my guest, in effect, for seven years.

And that fact, combined with a documented assault that had left a mark a judge could see in a photograph, let Darcy do something clean and lawful and final: petition for an emergency protective order excluding him from the home.

We were not changing the locks out of spite.