After a year abroad, I quietly returned, intending to surprise my fiancée. However, the moment I entered my home, I found it filled with smoke.

The wall of urns filled with ashes was a complete shock.

Frantically, I wanted to call my fiancée to find out what was going on.

But before I could, a man suddenly rushed in.

“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you see this house is for ashes? What if you just rushed in like that and disturbed the ancestors?”

I was struck by lightning when I heard his words. The house I bought in Stellis had become the place where she kept her ashes?

“I’m the owner of this house. Who gave you permission to put ashes here?” I demanded sharply, but the man glanced at me with a look of disdain.

“What landlord? This house is clearly my daughter-in-law’s!” The other person sneered, “My daughter-in-law’s name is Maxine! Get out of here, or I’ll have you kicked out!”

When I listened to him, my face was filled with disbelief. My fiancée was his daughter-in-law?

——

“Maxine, you better give me an explanation!”

I called Maxine, my voice filled with uncontrollable anger.

On the other end of the line, Maxine said coldly, “Dwight, what’s wrong with you?”

“Maxine, what happened to my house?” I asked coldly.

Hearing my words, Maxine’s voice became noticeably strained and she said, “What could possibly happen to your house?”

“I’m right here!” I exclaimed with a cold expression.

Upon hearing my words, Maxine fell silent. Then, she unexpectedly said, “You haven’t been home for a year. What’s wrong with me lending the house to someone else? Besides, that’s the wedding house your family prepared for you. In other words, it’s for you and me to get married. I have the right to deal with your house!”

I laughed in anger at Maxine’s words.

Let’s not even talk about whether I should still marry her, just considering the current state of the house, how could I possibly turn it into a wedding house when it was used as a columbarium?

At this moment, my face was filled with anger as I said, “Maxine, you’d better show up right now and give me an explanation!”

“Dwight, have you had enough of this? I admit, I was wrong to lend the house to someone else, but you’re not coming back anyway! I’ll book you a hotel. You can stay there. Also, I’m very busy these next two days. Come back when you’re done!” Maxine said coldly on the other end of the line.

Then she hung up on me.

At that moment, my face was particularly grim. A few minutes later, Maxine sent me a reservation. Looking at it, I burst into laughter.

A youth hostel, one of those 6.96 dollars-a-night ones.

I angrily called Maxine.

But, to my surprise, the moment the call connected, a man’s voice came through.

“Ms. Hargraves is in a meeting, Mr. Hunt. She said you need to endure some hardship before you can. That hotel is right for you!”

The man’s voice on the other end of the line made me burst into laughter.

“Let Maxine talk to me!” I shouted, my face cold.

But the voice on the other end said with a smug tone, “Ms. Hargraves said she’s very busy. Mr. Hunt, just a kind reminder, that hotel is quite a distance from your home. You’d better go there now, otherwise you might not be able to check in! Also, remember to check out at six tomorrow morning, or Ms. Hargraves will have to pay for a full day’s room!”

The voice on the other end of the line infuriated me.

My own house had been converted into a columbarium and Maxine had booked me into a 6.96-dollar youth hostel and even told me to check out early the next morning.

“Tell Maxine to come back immediately. Also, I’ll call the police. She must give me an explanation for how my house was messed up!” I said coldly.

“Also, I’ll notify the property management! Throw everything out!”

As soon as I finished speaking, the man’s voice on the other end of the line rang out.

“Dwight, I’m warning you. My father has a heart condition. If you dare mess around and make him sick, I’ll have Maxine deal with you!” The man’s voice on the other end was filled with anger.

My face turned cold when I heard this.

I hung up and called the property management.

I told them I was the owner of the house and that they needed to handle it. But what I didn’t expect was that the property management representative on the other end of the line said helplessly, “Mr. Hunt, a while ago, a man named Garth came to us with the property deed and claimed to be the owner!”

A hint of surprise crossed my face when I heard this.

After all, I had bought the house and even the deed was overseas; there was no other copy.

But the property management representative told me that someone had registered a copy of the deed with them.

“Mr. Hunt, the house is filled with smoke every day. We’ve contacted the owner, but he claims it’s his own house, so naturally, he has the final say! He still has the deed, so there’s nothing we can do!”

As I listened to the property management representative’s words on the phone, my face gradually grew colder.

I told the property management representative that I was the owner and that I had the deed.

At the same time, I quickly contacted my secretary overseas and asked him to immediately locate my property deed and send it to me.

After doing all this, I was ready to call the police, but before I could, Maxine called, “Dwight, what are you doing? I just lent my house to Garth’s father. He’s an old man and temporarily has nowhere to live. What’s wrong with him staying at your house? How long are you going to make a fuss over such a trivial matter? Didn’t I book a hotel for you?”

On the other end of the line, Maxine’s voice was filled with anger and scolding. “If you keep throwing that tantrum, I won’t tolerate you!”

As I listened to Maxine’s voice on the line, her face grew increasingly grim.

To her, this was a trivial matter.

My house had become a columbarium and she had booked me a room for $6.96 a night, which I even had to check out the next morning.

At that moment, I was furious.

I coldly said to Maxine, “Maxine, you’d better show up at my house right now, or you’ll face the consequences!”

After saying this, I hung up the phone.

I then called my mother, who was far away overseas. I told my mother everything. Listening to my complaints, she was incredibly angry on the other end of the phone.

“What is Maxine trying to do?”

My mother’s angry voice rang out from the other end of the line. “For all these years, I’ve taken care of the Hargraves Family’s business because she wanted to be my daughter-in-law. Since she doesn’t want to be my daughter-in-law, then our business with the Hargraves Family should be severed!”

My father said from the other end, “Dwight, you’re all alone there. I’m worried you’ll suffer. Don’t worry, I’ll send someone over right away!”

My mother spoke quickly from the other end of the line.

A few years ago, because my mother’s company was developing exceptionally well and even had promising prospects, she moved the company overseas. At that time, I was already engaged to Maxine.

However, I had a lot of business at my mother’s company, so we agreed that after I finished my overseas work, I would return to Stellis to marry her.

I still remembered the day I left. Maxine held my hand and looked incredibly reluctant to let me go. She said she’d wait for me to return and give me a perfect wedding.

But I never expected that after just a year away, Maxine would become so unfamiliar.

She even thought I was throwing a tantrum and getting jealous of her secretary.

At that moment, I was filled with disappointment in Maxine.

My mother told me she’d have a lawyer handle this matter. After all, she bought this house for me and the purchase records were in her possession.

As for the property deed being overseas, my secretary had taken a photo and sent it to me.

So, my house was definitely in my name.

As for why Garth could go to the property management office with a copy of the deed and claim it was his, I already had a theory.

Six months ago, Maxine mentioned that she needed help with my house. I didn’t think much of it at the time, even assuming she was just setting up our wedding room.

So, I gave Maxine the key to my house. Even when she asked for a copy of the deed, I didn’t think twice and took a photo and sent it to her. Apparently, Garth had used the photo from that copy to create a false certificate.

Now, thinking about this, my eyes were filled with anger.

As I anxiously waited, Maxine arrived with Garth.

As soon as she got out of the car, she walked straight towards me and berated me.

“Dwight, how long are you going to make such a fuss? Isn’t it just borrowing your house? Are you really so stingy? Besides, that house is our wedding house. I have the right to dispose of it!”

Maxine looked at me, her eyes filled with anger. “I lent it to Garth’s father. What’s the problem? Can you bear to see an old man living on the streets?”

I listened to Maxine’s accusations with a sneer on my face. “Maxine, if you want to be a good person, lend out your own house. Why lend out my wedding house? Do you know what he’s doing in my wedding house?” I demanded loudly.

Maxine was stunned upon hearing this, then she said coldly, “What could an old man like him do in the bridal chamber? Even if he damaged something, I can just pay to fix it! You called me back from work just because of such a small matter?”

At this moment, Maxine looked at me coldly and said, “Dwight, you’re so naive. I think I need to reconsider my engagement with you!”

I laughed in anger at Maxine’s words.

My engagement with her was arranged by my parents at the behest of Mr. Mike.

After all, the Hargraves Family relied on my family to rise. It was safe to say that without my family’s financial support, the Hargraves Family wouldn’t have been able to survive.

At the time, I was extremely pleased with Maxine, so I readily agreed.

But she felt that I truly couldn’t leave her.