The Mansion She Stole Was Mine

My coworker Chloe Carter posted a nine-panel video montage on Instagram to show off her wealth, captioned, “The mansion my fiancé bought me.” The location tag was Crestview Hills, the most exclusive neighborhood in the city. The comments were full of likes and flattery from our coworkers. I stared at the screen and sneered. Because I had bought that house just last month. I hadn’t moved in yet because my custom furniture was still being shipped overseas. But I had no idea how Chloe had gotten inside. I had already changed the door code. And that dress from my walk-in closet—the one-of-a-kind Paris couture gown my father had given me, worth three million dollars— Chloe was wearing it. What sent a chill down my spine, though, was something else. The bottle of Romanée-Conti in the wine cabinet had been opened. Disposable plastic cups sat beside it. My father had bought it at an auction in France last year, before he got sick. It was worth six million dollars, and he had told me to save it for my wedding day. My guess was that Chloe had peeked at the passwords saved on my phone when I got drunk at last week’s department dinner. She hadn’t just stolen my door code. She had broken into my house, worn my gown, and opened my wine to serve to other people in plastic cups. But I didn’t expose her on Instagram right away. The next morning, I walked into the office right on time. A crowd had gathered around Chloe’s desk. Emma Brooks was holding Chloe’s hand, practically drooling over her. “Chloe, that house is incredible! It looked insanely expensive in the video!” Chloe tossed her hair smugly. “It’s all right. Just over fifty-four hundred square feet. My fiancé thinks it’s too small. He says we’ll get something bigger after the wedding.” Nina Hayes chimed in, sounding envious. “Your fiancé is so generous. That dress last night was designer too, right?” Chloe straightened her back. “Of course. Paris couture. The only one in the country. Three million dollars.” Coffee in hand, I strolled up behind her. “Chloe, lovely dress. Did it fit?” She visibly stiffened at the sound of my voice. She turned around. Panic flashed through her eyes before she forced herself to look composed. “Sophie Reed, you’ve never even set foot in a designer boutique. You wouldn’t understand if I explained it.” I smiled. “You’re right. I don’t understand. There’s just one thing I find strange.” “How does your one-of-a-kind, three-million-dollar couture gown look exactly like the one missing from my closet?” The office fell silent. Everyone’s eyes darted between Chloe and me. Chloe shot to her feet and jabbed a finger in my face. “Sophie, have you no shame?” “You make three thousand dollars a month! How could you afford a three-million-dollar dress?” “If you’re trying to scam me, at least come up with a better story. Yours must be some cheap knockoff!” Emma immediately jumped to her defense. “Exactly, Sophie. Just admit you’re jealous of Chloe. This is pathetic.” Nina rolled her eyes. “Chloe’s fiancé is the heir to a publicly traded company. Why would she steal from you? What a joke.” I looked at Chloe’s self-righteous face without a trace of anger. I even nodded. “Fine. Since the house is yours, and so is the dress, I’m sure you won’t mind inviting the whole department over for a team-building party this weekend?” Chloe froze. Clearly, she hadn’t expected that. Emma’s eyes lit up, and she immediately joined in. “Yes, please! Chloe, you only invited a few of your friends last night. Take us there this weekend too!” Our other coworkers looked at her eagerly. Backed into a corner, Chloe turned bright red. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to agree. “Fine! I’ll host this weekend. Everyone can come over and enjoy my house!” She shot me a vicious glare. “Try not to cry from jealousy when you get there, Sophie!” I took a sip of coffee. “Don’t worry. I definitely won’t cry.” I’d be smiling as I watched her destroy herself.At two on Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen of us from the department piled into a rented shuttle bus and headed into Crestview Hills. We stopped outside the front gate of my house. Chloe led the way, making a show of entering the code. “Beep, beep, beep. Incorrect code.” The electronic lock delivered its cold announcement. Everyone paused. Sweat broke out across Chloe’s forehead. Emma asked in confusion, “Chloe, did you get the code wrong?” Chloe stammered an explanation. “M-maybe my fiancé changed it yesterday. Let me try again.” I glanced at my phone. Ten minutes earlier, I had used the house’s smart-home app to change the temporary access code to my birthday. The feature was meant to let the housekeeper come and go. It was proving useful now. There was no way Chloe could get it open. She entered the code five times. Every attempt failed. A shrill alarm blared from the door. “System locked. Please contact property management.” Nina gave her a suspicious look. “Chloe, is this house actually yours? How do you not know the code to your own home?” Chloe stamped her foot in frustration and kicked the lock. “Stupid thing! The battery must be dead!” She turned around, desperately trying to save face. “Wait here. I’ll call my fiancé and have him unlock it remotely!” She took out her phone and walked aside, putting on a show. I couldn’t be bothered to watch her act anymore. I stepped forward. I pressed my right index finger to the fingerprint scanner. I had registered my fingerprints the day I got the keys, and property management had my biometric information on file too. “Beep. Welcome home, owner.” The heavy security door swung open. A deathly silence fell. Everyone stared at me, wide-eyed. Chloe stood with her phone raised, her mouth hanging open like a duck being strangled. Emma pointed at me, stammering. “S-Sophie… How did you open that?” I brushed the dust off my hands. “I bought the door. Of course I can open it.” I walked into the living room first. “Come on in. Make yourselves at home.” Our coworkers exchanged looks before turning toward Chloe. She snapped out of her daze and charged inside on her heels. “Sophie! Stop playing tricks!” “You must have used some hacking app to crack my lock!” “This is trespassing! I’m calling the police!” The louder she shouted, the more obvious her guilt became. I settled onto the couch and crossed my legs. “Go ahead. Call them.” “They can check whose name is on the deed while they’re here.” Chloe went white. She bit her lip hard, but she didn’t dare take out her phone. Emma and Nina exchanged a look. They seemed to realize something was wrong. But Chloe wasn’t done performing. She suddenly rushed to the wine cabinet and yanked it open. “Don’t listen to her nonsense! This house is mine!” “To show you all how welcome you are, I’m treating everyone to the finest wine today!” She took out a bottle in extremely luxurious packaging. It had already been opened. The cork sat crookedly in the neck, and some of the wine was clearly missing. It was the same bottle she had poured into plastic cups in the video. “My fiancé had someone buy this at a French auction house. Eighty thousand dollars a bottle!” My gaze turned cold. That was a rare, discontinued collector’s Romanée-Conti worth at least six million dollars. My father had saved it especially for me.Chloe grabbed a corkscrew and roughly drove it into the cork. “Drink as much as you want today! It’s on me!” She was about to pour the wine into a nearby glass. Ryan Miller, standing beside her, suddenly cried out. “Oh, damn! That bottle’s slippery!” Ryan was notoriously clumsy. As he turned, his elbow slammed into Chloe’s arm. Crash! The six-million-dollar bottle hit the floor and shattered. Dark red wine splashed everywhere. Worse, the bottle struck and broke a nearby display stand. The blue-and-white porcelain vase on top fell and smashed as well. The room went completely silent. Ryan turned pale and stumbled backward. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Chloe! I didn’t mean to!” “The wine was eighty thousand, right? Can… can I pay you back in installments?” Chloe stared at the mess, her eye twitching wildly. But to keep up her rich-girl act, she had no choice but to swallow the loss. She waved a hand with exaggerated generosity. “Oh, please. It’s nothing.” “It’s just a bottle of wine. Accidents happen.” “That ugly vase was just a decoration too. A few hundred dollars at most. You don’t have to pay me back.” The moment she finished, I stood up. I walked over to the broken pieces and looked coldly at Ryan. “Who told you that vase was worth a few hundred dollars?” Everyone froze. I pulled out my phone and opened an auction house’s appraisal certificate. The previous owner had left the vase as one of the artworks included with the house. I had specifically had it appraised. “A blue-and-white porcelain vase from the Kangxi imperial kilns, decorated with flowering and fruiting branches.” “It sold at last month’s Sotheby’s fall auction for two point eight million dollars.” “Add the six-million-dollar collector’s bottle of Romanée-Conti.” “That little collision just cost eight point eight million dollars.” The air seemed to freeze. Ryan’s knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the floor. “E-eight point eight million?!” He turned to Chloe in terror. “Chloe! You just said it was only a few hundred dollars!” Chloe completely panicked, her voice rising to a shriek. “That’s bullshit, Sophie! You think slapping a fake certificate on some junk vase lets you extort us?” “This is my house! If I say it’s worth a few hundred, that’s what it’s worth!” “Keep talking nonsense, and I’ll have security throw you out!” I didn’t even look at her. I pressed the video intercom on the coffee table, which connected directly to the property management lobby. “Mr. Lewis, bring your team over.” Less than a minute later, someone pushed open the front door. The Crestview Hills property manager hurried inside with four burly security guards. Chloe lunged toward him as if he were her savior. “Mr. Lewis! Perfect timing!” “This woman, Sophie Reed, is insane! She snuck into my house, and now she’s using fake junk to extort money from me!” “Grab her and take her to the police!” Mr. Lewis pushed Chloe aside. Ignoring her completely, he walked straight over to me. Then he bowed deeply. “Ms. Reed, I’m terribly sorry. Our security has failed you.” “We allowed these unauthorized people into your private residence. We take full responsibility.”His words struck the room like thunder. Emma’s purse fell from her hand. Nina gasped. Ryan’s mouth hung open as he struggled to breathe. Chloe stood rooted to the spot, as if she’d been struck by lightning. She stared at Mr. Lewis in disbelief. “What did you call her?” “Are you blind? This is my fiancé’s house!” Mr. Lewis turned and looked at her as though she were an idiot. “Ma’am, show some respect.” “Ms. Sophie Reed purchased Number Seven outright for fifty-eight million dollars.” “We have a copy of the deed on file. We verified the purchase agreement, tax documents, and bank transfer records.” “Who do you think you are, shouting in here?” Chloe staggered back two steps, shaking her head frantically. “Impossible… That’s impossible!” “Sophie is broke! She rides a rental bike to work every day! How could she afford a house here?” I walked up to her and looked down at her. “I ride a rental bike because I believe in reducing my carbon footprint.” “That doesn’t make me a thief like you, someone who can’t even afford a two-hundred-dollar vase.” I pointed at the shattered pieces. “Mr. Lewis, call the police.” “Someone broke into my home and, together with another person, destroyed eight point eight million dollars’ worth of property.” He immediately took out his phone. “Of course, Ms. Reed. I’ll call 911 right now.” At the mention of police, Ryan fell apart. He scrambled over and grabbed Chloe’s arm. “Chloe! You’ve ruined me!” “You said this was your house! Pay for it! I don’t want to go to prison!” Chloe shook him off, her face as white as paper. She knew her act was falling apart, but she still refused to give in. She glared at me viciously. “Don’t get so full of yourself, Sophie!” “This house belongs to my fiancé. He’s the heir to Bennett Group!” “There must be some misunderstanding. Just wait until I call him!” I raised an eyebrow. “The heir to Bennett Group?” “Go ahead. I’d love to see who that is!”