Chapter 2

The group chat fell dead silent.

The scrolling wall of text froze right on my last message.

A solid 30 seconds ticked by.

Jacob broke the silence first, his text practically vibrating with the excitement of someone who thought they had just caught a criminal red-handed.

"Carlos, explain this. I remember it crystal clear—Section Three of Parking Management Rules. For the sake of fairness, each household is legally capped at purchasing a maximum of two deeded parking spaces! It's written in black and white."

Terrified that someone might miss it, he aggressively copy-pasted the exact line into the chat.

"Isn't that right, Carlos? What is management actually doing around here? How could you allow a blatant violation like this to occur?"

Several minutes passed before Carlos replied.

Even through text, I could hear how carefully he was choosing his words.

"According to… the current bylaws, that is technically the case in principle."

This non-committal answer was all the ammunition Jacob needed.

"See that, everyone? In principle! Alright, neighbor. Why don't you explain yourself? Where did your 'eight' spaces come from? What, do you carry four different sets of IDs?"

His barb immediately got the group chat riled up again.

Brandon posted a snickering emoji. "At least get your story straight before lying. This is getting awkward."

Jonathan added, "Seriously. Some people will say absolutely anything just to avoid embarrassing themselves."

Others began chiming in, too.

"Parking sideways across two spots was already trashy enough, but making up eight? Come on."

"People really do anything for clout."

"She probably realized that she backed herself into a corner and is just doubling down on a lie."

"Is the management office going to enforce the rules or what? Are the bylaws just a joke?"

The mockery kept flooding the thread, one message right after another.

Jacob didn't say anything else, but he followed up with a "waiting for the mic drop" sticker.

How subtle.

All of a sudden, a direct message preview popped up at the top of my screen. It was Carlos.

"Ms. Hart, this is getting a little out of hand. The homeowners are getting pretty riled up. Would you mind explaining the situation to me privately first? Or perhaps you could move the car for now."

I didn't bother responding.

Setting my phone down, I walked over to my desk and opened the bottom drawer. Inside sat a pristine, heavy stack of property deeds.

I grabbed the top eight and fanned them out perfectly across the desk.

I snapped a photo and sent it to the group chat.

"Oh, you're right about the rules. It's a maximum of two spaces per household. But who exactly told you I only own one unit around here? Block 2-1, Unit 918; Block 3-2, Unit 828... Do you need me to spell out every single unit number I own?

"Each deed you see here corresponds to a separate apartment in this complex. Every single apartment grants me the right to buy two spots, and I bought them. Is there a problem?

"And just so we're clear, based on the total square footage currently registered under my name in this complex, the rules actually entitle me to 16 spaces. I've only bothered to buy eight so far.

"I know the bylaws a lot better than you do. Any other questions?"

After I sent the message, no one said a single word.

A solid ten minutes passed before a single text bubble cautiously broke the ice.

It was Brandon, the guy who had just told me to get my story straight. He posted a thumbs-up emoji, followed by a quick text.

"Celia, that's impressive. You have my respect!"

Jonathan chimed in right after, flipping his tone, "Oh, wow. So you're actually the real deal. My bad."

The same people who had been mocking me minutes ago were suddenly tripping over themselves to compliment me, as if their praises could erase the prior humiliation.

"I knew it. That car looked expensive."

"Eight spaces… Man, I'm jealous."

"Talk about quiet luxury."

"Sorry about that. We didn't realize who we were dealing with!"

Carlos followed with a smiling emoji.

"Everything checks out. Management has verified Ms. Hart's credentials, and everything is fully compliant with regulations. Glad we got this misunderstanding cleared up. Keeping the peace in the neighborhood is what matters the most!"