“Don’t worry about it,” he said, brushing me off. “We can do it another day.”

Something about his tone felt off, but I pushed the thought aside. After all, he was just worried about his mom, right?

Despite our differences, Linda loved my lasagna. The cheesy, oven-baked masterpiece always brought compliments from her.

I figured that if making it for her when she was at her lowest could help mend the tension between us, it was worth the effort. So, I sighed, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work.

As the lasagna baked, I couldn’t help but think about the sacrifices Matt and I had made to save for the house. We had skipped vacations, turned down fancy dinners, and worked overtime to make this dream a reality.

The house was supposed to be a fresh start for us.

Legally, the house would be in Matt’s name because of some complicated inheritance issues, but it didn’t bother me. In our state, property acquired during marriage was split 50-50 in the event of a divorce.

I trusted Matt, even if the arrangement left a small knot of unease in my stomach.

I remember it was around 6 p.m. when I got into my car with the lasagna still warm. Matt told me he had some work meeting that he needed to attend, so he couldn’t accompany me.

About 20 minutes after leaving the house, my phone buzzed. It was Sarah, my lawyer. She never called after work hours unless it was urgent.

“Hi,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Go back home. NOW,” she shouted into the phone.

“What? Sarah, what’s going on?”

“It’s Matt,” she said. “They’re at your house… with a real estate agent. You need to get back immediately.”

“What do you mean ‘they’?” I asked, already turning the car around.

“Matt and Linda,” she said, her tone clipped. “They’re signing paperwork to put the house in Linda’s name.”

“What the heck?”

“Just get back home now!” she said before hanging up.

When I pulled into the driveway, my hands were shaking so badly that I could barely unbuckle my seatbelt.

Inside, the scene was worse than I’d imagined.

Matt was standing in the living room holding the papers he had been hiding from me. Linda was next to him and didn’t look sick at all.

Meanwhile, the real estate agent shifted uncomfortably. It looked like she regretted being involved in this.

“What is going on here?” I demanded.

Matt stepped forward. “Babe, listen—”

“No,” Sarah interrupted, stepping into the room behind me. She must have followed right after I told her I was about to reach home. “Let me spell it out for her since you clearly can’t be honest.”

Then she turned to me.

“They were about to transfer the house into Linda’s name,” she said. “Your house, Demi. The one you saved for.”

I stared at Matt, unable to process what I was looking at.

“Why?” I whispered. “Why would you do this?”

Linda folded her arms as her lips curled into a condescending smile.

“It’s simple,” she said. “Matt has always been my son first and I need to protect what’s his. You can’t trust everyone these days, you know.”

I was speechless.

“But that’s not all,” Sarah interrupted. “I did some digging after the agent flagged this deal. Linda’s been planning for Matt to marry someone else. Her friend’s daughter. They were going to push for a divorce, leave you with nothing, and move forward like you didn’t even exist.”

My chest tightened as the room spun.

“You planned this? With her?” I turned to Matt. “I trusted you, Matt. I gave you everything. Do you even realize what you’ve done?”

“It’s not like that,” Matt stammered, still avoiding my eyes. “Mom just thought it was best—”

“Best?” I cut him off. “Best for who? You? Her? What about me, Matt? I built this life with you. I sacrificed for this house. For us. And you were ready to erase me like I was nothing!”

“Demi, I—”

“Save it,” I snapped, shaking my head. “You don’t deserve my forgiveness, and you certainly don’t deserve me.”

Sarah stepped in and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Demi. The house isn’t sold yet, and we have all the evidence we need to fight this.”

As I turned to leave, I felt a strange sense of clarity. This wasn’t the end of my life. It was just the end of a bad chapter. And I was ready to write a better one.

The next few months were a blur of paperwork, tears, and laughter.

Sarah helped me file for divorce and Matt’s betrayal made it easy to win everything I was owed. Because Matt’s financial contributions were laughably small, he walked away with stuff like a lamp and a blender.

In the aftermath, I grew closer to Sarah, and we became good friends.

The real estate agent who saved the day? She also became our close friend.

Six months later, I worked with the same agent to buy a new house. This time, it was only mine, and I didn’t have to share it with a greedy man like Matt.