THE DAY SHE LOST HER HOME

She couldn't believe what she had heard.

"Leave?"

"Tonight."

Lena laughed nervously.

She thought he was going to tell her it was a misunderstanding.

He didn't.

She looked at Victoria.

"Did you do this?"

Victoria remained perfectly calm.

"Your father made the decision."

Lena looked back at Richard.

"Did you?"

Richard nodded.

Lena's eyes immediately filled with tears.

"Why?"

Richard didn't answer.

Sophia leaned back on the sofa.

"Because this isn't a hotel."

Lena looked at her.

"I wasn't talking to you."

Sophia smiled.

"You should start getting used to not being the most important person in this house."

Lena's face hardened.

She turned toward her father.

"Is that what this is about?"

Richard said nothing.

"You want her to feel like this is her home."

She pointed toward Victoria.

"And you think I'm the problem."

Victoria slowly stood.

"You're not the problem, Lena."

She smiled.

"You're simply no longer needed."

Those words broke something inside Lena.

She looked around the room.

The piano in the corner.

Her mother's favorite chair.

The family photographs on the wall.

She had spent twenty-four years here.

Her entire childhood was inside these walls.

She turned toward her father.

"Mom died here."

Richard's face tightened.

"I know."

"She asked you to take care of me."

"I said I know."

"Then how can you do this?"

Richard looked away.

Lena stepped closer.

"You promised her."

Silence.

For a moment, Lena thought he might finally change his mind.

He didn't.

Instead, Richard reached for an envelope on the table.

"There is enough money inside for you to rent an apartment and start your own life."