“The audacity is off the charts 😤 but that timing was absolute perfection. Karma really said, ‘Hold my phone.’ 📱✋”

I watched the color drain from her face as she stammered into the phone. The arrogance she had just displayed while standing amidst my ruined living room evaporated instantly. She went from screaming about how ungrateful I was to whispering, “No, please, I just need a few more days to get the money together.”

When she hung up, the silence was deafening.

“That was your landlord, wasn’t it?” I asked, crossing my arms.

She wouldn’t look at me. It all clicked. She hadn’t been “house-sitting” to be nice. She had been evicted. She had been hiding out in my house because she had nowhere else to go, and she had treated it like a frat house because she has no respect for anyone else’s property—not even her late son’s widow.

“They’re changing the locks on my apartment today,” she muttered, finally dropping the act. “They’re keeping my deposit for damages and suing me for back rent. I… I have nowhere to go.”

She looked up at me with sudden, desperate hope. “Since I’m already here, and the house is big enough…”

“Absolutely not,” I cut her off.

“But we’re family!” she wailed. “You can’t leave me on the street!”

“You just told me you were doing me a favor,” I reminded her. “You refused to pay for the thousands of dollars in damage you caused to my sanctuary. You broke the pool pump, ruined the floors, and trashed the furniture my husband and I picked out together. You didn’t treat this place like a home; you treated it like a dumpster.”

I pulled out my phone.

“Who are you calling?” she panicked.

“The police,” I said calmly. “You are trespassing. And after that, I’m calling my lawyer to sue you for the damages to my property. If your landlord is already garnishing your accounts, I want to make sure I’m next in line.”

She tried to beg, then she tried to scream, but I just walked to the front door and held it open. She left sobbing, dragging her two suitcases behind her.

It took three months and a significant chunk of my savings to fix the house, but the peace and quiet? That was instant. I haven’t heard from her since the court summons was served. Karma really does have perfect timing.