“The legal battle for the house is over,” Gloria said, signing her own name as witness. “The storage yard will be unlocked in an hour.”

“Thank you, Gloria,” I said.

“You did the hard work, Alexandra,” she said. “Most people would have backed down when the trucks arrived.”

I left the office building and walked out into the warm Austin air, feeling a sense of relief.

I called Nathan to tell him the news.

“We’re back in business,” Nathan said over the line. “I’ll have the crew moving the pieces to the new site by tomorrow morning.”

“Keep me updated,” I said.

I drove back to Sarah’s house to pick up Chloe.

When she got in the car, she looked at my face and smiled.

“We kept it?” she asked.

“We kept it,” I said. “The house is ours.”

We drove back toward Westlake Hills to look at the empty foundation one last time before the land clearing began.

As I turned onto our old street, I noticed a silver sedan parked near the entrance of the driveway.