“She’s the one we’re proud of. You’ve always been the disappointment.”

I closed my eyes.

Some insults hurt even when you’ve heard versions of them your entire life.

“We’ll be there tomorrow morning at ten,” Dad continued. “We’ll bring the transfer papers. You’ll sign the deed, hand over the keys, and stop making a scene.”

Then he hung up.

I stood there staring at my phone.

Ten years.

Ten years of working until my legs ached.

Ten years of missing weekends.

Ten years of scraping together mortgage payments.

And my parents had just decided the reward belonged to Chloe.

A small hand covered mine.

My eleven-year-old daughter Nora stood beside me.

Unlike me, she didn’t look shocked.

She looked almost calm.

Too calm.

“Let them come, Mom.”

I looked at her.

“Nora—”

“Seriously. Let them come.”

Something in her expression made me pause.

Then she added,

“The timing is actually perfect.”

The next morning, my parents arrived exactly when they said they would.

Chloe came with them.

Dad walked into my kitchen and slapped a thick legal folder onto the counter.

“Sign.”

I looked down at the quitclaim deed.

He had already filled in most of the paperwork.

“You actually prepared this.”

“Enough drama, Evelyn.”

Chloe leaned against the counter scrolling through her phone, barely bothering to look at me.

Mom stood beside her like a proud bodyguard.

Dad tapped the signature line.

“Sign the house over to your sister.”

Then Nora spoke from the living room.

“No one is signing anything.”

Everyone turned.

My eleven-year-old daughter stood straight beside the television.

Dad frowned.

“This is an adult conversation.”

Nora ignored him.

“If Aunt Chloe is going to receive a house as a reward for graduating, shouldn’t she have actually graduated first?”

Chloe’s head snapped up.

Mom blinked.

Dad stared at Nora.

“What are you talking about?”

Nora picked up a remote.

“I’m talking about the fact that Aunt Chloe hasn’t been enrolled at her university for over three years.”

For the first time since walking into my home, Chloe stopped looking smug.

Her fingers froze around her phone.

Dad took a step forward.

“What did you just say?”

Nora looked directly at her aunt.