Ethan looked as if he had been struck.

He slowly dropped my keys onto the dark wood of the console table.

“Sophia, please,” Ethan said, his voice cracking. “We can talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about,” I said. “You have five minutes to get your things and leave.”

“We are not leaving!” Linda yelled, her voice echoing off the high ceiling. “This is our family’s security! We owe three hundred thousand dollars to Ryan’s creditors by Friday!”

“Then you had better find another way to pay them,” I said. “Because if you are not out of this house in five minutes, I am calling the police.”

I reached down and took my keys back from the table.

“You wouldn’t do that to your husband,” Linda said, though her voice trembled.

“Watch me,” I said, typing three digits into my phone keypad.

Ethan grabbed Linda’s arm.

“Mom, stop. She’s not bluffing.”

“Ethan, no!” Linda protested, trying to pull away from him. “We have nowhere else to go. The bank is foreclosing on my condo next week.”