Chapter 1 - THE FAVOR THAT CAME WITH A DEADLINE
Kloe Davis had spent years building a quiet, independent life in Boston. At thirty-four, she was a successful project manager, financially stable, and the sole owner of a three-bedroom condo she had bought in 2019 with savings and money inherited from her late mother. The property was completely paid off before she married Mark Johnson in 2020.
For the first two years, their marriage was peaceful.
Then Mark asked for a favor.
His widowed mother, Susan, was struggling with knee pain in Pennsylvania, while his younger brother, Tyler, had quit yet another job and wanted to try finding work in Boston. Mark asked Kloe if the two of them could stay in her condo for three or four months.
Kloe hesitated.
She understood Mark's sense of responsibility toward his family, but she also understood that temporary arrangements had a dangerous habit of becoming permanent when boundaries were unclear.
So she agreed on several conditions.
Susan and Tyler could stay for four months. Tyler had to actively look for work. Everyone would help with household chores and groceries. Nobody would make changes to the condo without Kloe's permission. Her office and bedroom were private. Most importantly, four months meant four months.
Mark agreed immediately.
“Of course,” he told her. “This is your home too. I would never let them disrespect that.”
Kloe should have paid more attention to those words.
Because three weeks after Susan and Tyler moved in, the condo already felt different.
May you like
And by the time four months passed, Kloe would discover that Mark's family had stopped thinking of themselves as guests.
They had begun thinking of Kloe as the obstacle.
