They Framed Me for a Missing Wall

I was about to sign the moveout inspection form for my boyfriend's sister when the comments scrolling past me flashed a warning: [Don't sign it.

She knocked out a loadbearing wall!] Repairs plus a structural assessment would run at least $180,000.

And his family was getting ready to say the apartment was mine and put every bit of the blame on me. Worse, the landlord, Roman Cavanaugh, was a man nobody in this city dared cross.

My boyfriend blocked the door and pressed me to sign for his sister. But I almost wanted to laugh.

They had no idea that three days ago, Roman had stood outside my door and asked me: "If he stopped being your boyfriend, would you consider me?" Chapter 1 I stared at where the wall had been knocked out, and everything inside me went cold.

Last time I was here, there had been a wall separating the living room from the kitchen. I remembered it clearly. Now that wall was gone.

The whole living room had a new drop ceiling, and the walls had all been painted the same shade of cream. At first glance, it did look a lot more open than before.

The problem was, the wall she'd taken down was loadbearing. In a building like this, once the loadbearing structure is compromised, you get cracked walls at best.

At worst, the stability of the entire building is affected. The man who owned this apartment had been chasing me for more than ten years.

And now my boyfriend's family had decided to hang the whole thing on me.

I looked at the inspection form in my hand and smiled. "I don't think I'll be signing this after all." Kendall's smile froze.

Her brother, Garrett, frowned before he could catch himself. "Why not?" "Mom just said it, you're going to marry into this family sooner or later. It's a small favor, come on.

We're all family here." [Do NOT fall for the sweet talk, that whole family already looked up what the damages would cost.

This is a luxury building, almost $900 a square foot, and $180,000 is the conservative estimate.

If the other neighbors find out, it won't stop at $180,000!] [He's going to pin it on you and then break up with you!] [And on top of that it's Roman. This whole area is his turf!

He plays rough, and once he's locked onto someone he won't stop until he's bled them dry.

Family, my ass!] I handed the pen back and kept my voice level. "Kendall's the one who rented the place, and Kendall's the one who took the keys.

She's the one who should be signing the place back over." Garrett's face darkened. "Vivienne, you know perfectly well she has a flight to catch.

How long is signing your name going to hold you up?" Chapter 2 I spread my hands, the picture of innocence, and looked at the two of them like I genuinely couldn't follow. "But I don't even know how long this place was leased for, or how much the deposit was, or what's supposed to be checked at moveout." "If something turns out to be wrong and the landlord asks me, what am I supposed to say?" Kendall stole another glance at the wall.

The panic in her eyes came and went, and then she took my hand and gave it a little shake. "Sis… the landlord isn't going to ask you anything, it's all spelled out in the lease.

And when the deposit comes back, I won't take it, okay? Call it a little present for my sis!" [LOL she knows better than anyone that deposit is never coming back.

A little present, she says.] I kept smiling and slid my hand free. "And if there is something wrong with the place?

All you'd have to say is that I'm the one who signed, and I'd never be able to explain myself." "Sign it and let's go.

I'll drive you to the airport, and your brother can wait here for the landlord's walkthrough." I picked up my bag and headed for the door.

I was hoping to use the moment to get out of there, but Kendall's mouth pulled down and she threw the pen on the table. "Garrett! I knew she didn't like me.

She has to make it difficult over something this small." I laughed, furious now, and turned right back around. "Then why not have your brother sign it?

Why does it have to be me, the one who hasn't even married into this family?" I looked at the two of them. "Who is making things difficult for who here?" Kendall had no answer for that, and Garrett, seeing he had nothing left to argue with, started playing the relationship card. "Vivienne, I knew you never thought of us as family.

Kenny is about to miss her flight and you're still picking at this.

What do you want?" "I don't want anything." I looked up at him and said it one word at a time. "I've just realized I'm not that eager to marry into your family anymore." Garrett's head snapped up. "What's that supposed to mean?" I picked up my bag and went around him toward the door. "Garrett, we're done." "If you want a wife who does whatever your mother and your sister tell her, go find someone else." Garrett's face changed. "Vivienne, you're breaking up with me over something this small?" I kept walking, and then I heard Garrett's low, furious snarl behind me. "Vivienne, you stop right there!" I ignored him.

The next second a hand clamped around my wrist. Before I could react, I was hauled backward, hard. One side of my body slammed into the wall, and the pain went right through me.

I stumbled, caught my balance with a hand on my aching shoulder, and turned to look at Garrett. "Are you out of your mind?" "You're putting your hands on me to get me to sign?" Garrett and I had been together for five years.

Back when he was chasing me, he checked on me constantly, took care of every little thing.

There was the occasional friction while we were together, but he always had the patience to coax me out of it.

And now, to force me to sign a moveout inspection form, he had hauled me back and slammed me into a wall. The more I thought about it, the colder I went inside.

I took out my phone to call my dad.

Garrett saw what I was doing and his face changed. "Who are you calling?" "My dad." "Give me the phone first." I put the phone behind my back without thinking.

And then Garrett reached out to take it. I held on and wouldn't let go. In the middle of the struggle, his grip came loose all at once. Crack!

The phone hit the floor hard, and the screen shattered in one wide web.

Chapter 3 I froze where I stood. [It's over, Garrett is not letting you out of there today.] [Between five years with you and two hundred grand, he picked the money.

Obviously.] [He's so much stronger than you. If this actually turns physical you won't be able to fight him off!] Garrett didn't seem to have meant to break it either.

Something like regret crossed his face. "That was an accident." "I just didn't want you calling your parents over and blowing this up." Five years.

And for the first time I realized I had never actually known the man in front of me. "This gets handled today." "You sign the inspection form and everything between us is fine." "If you insist on making a scene, don't blame me for how it goes." Something in my chest sank, a little at a time.

That was when Kendall picked the inspection form back up off the table. None of the sweetness from before.

She just looked at me with a cold face. "Vivienne, my brother has gone this far asking you. What else do you want?" "I really don't understand.

It's just signing one thing for me, isn't it? Do you have to treat this entire family like your enemy?" Before I could answer, Kendall's phone rang.

She picked up the video call, and Garrett's mother's face filled the screen again. "Vivi, Kenny told Mom everything." "She's in a hurry, she asked you to sign one thing for her, and now you're breaking up with Gare over it?" "Kenny has a flight to catch.

We're family, why make everyone miserable over something this small?" I stayed quiet for a few seconds and pushed down how sick it made me. "Mrs.

Dempsey, Garrett and I aren't even engaged. Isn't it a little early for you to be calling yourself my mom?" Then I turned for the door again.

But Garrett stepped forward and put himself in my way. "Vivienne." He looked at me, and there was no trace of a smile left on his face. "First you turn down my sister, then you talk back to my mother right in front of me.

Do you have any respect at all for my family?" "And you kept telling me you really wanted to marry me.

It comes down to this one small thing and you'd rather break up than help?" His face was dark, and while he stood there blocking me, he reached back and threw the deadbolt. "Today, signing is the only option you have." I looked hard at the two of them and knew they would not stop until they got what they wanted.

So I nodded. "Fine. I'll sign." Both of them let out a breath at that. On the video, Garrett's mother laughed. "There, that wasn't so hard!

Go on and sign, our Kenny has things to do." I took the pen Kendall held out, but before I signed I added one thing. "I'll sign.

But you're going to write on here exactly who has been living in this apartment." Garrett paused, and the smile he'd just put back on stiffened again. "Why would we write that?" I looked at him steadily. "Isn't an inspection form there to record the actual condition of the unit?" "Your sister is the one who rented it, so we put down the facts.

What's the problem with that?" Kendall panicked the second she heard that. "Vivienne, what exactly are you trying to pull?" "You're not even married into this family and you're already like this.

You want to marry my brother, you get through me first, and if this is how you are, I am not agreeing to this marriage!" Garrett arranged his face into something wounded too.

Chapter 4 "Five years together, and you don't have even that much basic trust in me." "A minute ago it was just a signature.

Now writing down who lived here is too much?" I scoffed, and made a point of looking slowly around the apartment. "What exactly is wrong with this place?" Garrett had nothing to say to that, but his mother detonated on the other end of the call. "Oh my God!" "I treat you like my future daughterinlaw and you're guarding yourself against us like we're thieves!" And she hung up.

A second later the family chat pinned at the top of Kendall's phone started buzzing and wouldn't stop.

Garrett had added me to their family chat after I met his parents, and his mother was in there now, crying about it. "I can't take this anymore.

I have always treated Garrett's girlfriend like my own daughter, and now Kenny has one thing come up, she asks her to sign one piece of paper, and she won't even do that." "She's treating Kenny like an outsider and the rest of us like the bad guys!" Inside of a minute, people were tagging me. "Kenny is about to leave.

You're practically family, you can't let her go off carrying this, can you?" "Scheming against Garrett's sister before she's even married in.

Once she's actually in this family, who's going to be able to live with her?

Girls like this are what ruin a perfectly good family!" The accusations came one after another, every one of them twisting what had actually happened, and Garrett pulled a pen out of his pocket like he'd had it ready all along.

He'd stopped pretending entirely. He clicked the pen and pushed it across to me. "You sign it yourself, or I hold your hand and we sign it together.

Your choice." Then he rolled his shoulders, and there was nothing in that but a threat. "Vivienne." "Your phone is broken.

Your parents trust me completely right now." "So if something happened to you, how many days do you think their future soninlaw could stall before they noticed?" [Is he actually about to do something…] [SON OF A BITCH!!!

Making you the fall guy was his idea to begin with!] Looking at the way Garrett was standing over me, I lowered my head and laughed under my breath.

Did his family honestly think that once I signed, the blame would stick to me and they'd be free and clear?

Three nights ago, the man who owned this apartment had stood outside my door the entire night before he left. I nodded. "All right.

I'll sign." I signed Vivienne Sinclair in one clean stroke, the letters big enough to run nearly the whole width of the line. Both of them lit up at the sight of it.

Kendall snatched the form away. "Vivienne, Vivienne. You could have just said yes earlier. You just can't take the nice way, can you?

It has to be the hard way." Then she grabbed her suitcase and shoved me out of the doorway. "Garrett, the landlord's people will be here for the walkthrough any minute.

I'm going!" I reached out to stop her without thinking, and Garrett caught my wrist.

There was the faintest smile at the corner of his mouth. "Let her go." "What you should be thinking about is what you're going to say when the landlord's people get here." Now that he'd finally dropped the act, I couldn't help pushing. "I thought you said there was nothing wrong with this place." Garrett let go of my wrist, slowly. [He thinks he's already won.] [HAHAHAHAHA Garrett has no idea how early he's celebrating!] [His sister hasn't even gotten away!] [The landlord's guys are already here, right by the elevators downstairs!] [Kendall just stepped into the elevator, and the second those doors open she's going to walk right into them!] Chapter 5 I read the comments, and the smile crept up into my eyes.

So this was what they thought being home free looked like.

Garrett patted my shoulder, and his tone carried a lot underneath it. "Some things you don't get to duck just because you'd like to." I looked up at him and let the corner of my mouth lift too. "Is that so?" Garrett paused.

The next second, quick footsteps came up to the door. Then Kendall's voice carried in from the hallway