Part 1The Empty House: My Boyfriend and Best Friend Sold My Life to Fund Their Vacation

Coming back from a week-long business trip, I found the condo I had saved up for five years to buy reduced to an empty shell.

All the furniture and decorations were completely gone.

I opened Instagram, only to see my best friend had posted a nine-photo carousel of the Maldives.

The caption read: [Enjoying life. Escaping from a control freak friend.]

My boyfriend posted the exact same photos, also tagged in the Maldives.

His caption: [How long does it take to find your soulmate? I just wish I had met you sooner.]

Sitting in my empty house, I called the building manager.

He told me that a week ago, on the very night I left, a professional moving company showed up with two box trucks and hauled everything away.

When the concierge asked about it, my best friend and my boyfriend claimed they were going on a trip, were short on cash, and needed to sell a few things.

My house. My furniture. My best friend of twenty years, and my boyfriend of ten years.

They took advantage of my absence to sell absolutely everything I owned.

Guess what I'm going to do about it?

* * *

My boyfriend, Carter, and I had been together for ten years.

My best friend, Mia, and I had known each other since elementary school—a full twenty years.

I used to think that even if these two people stopped loving me one day, they would at least never hurt me.

Turns out, I was incredibly naive.

Right now, I stood in the entryway. I didn't cry. I didn't scream.

Instead, I leaned my suitcase against the wall, pulled out my phone, and hit record.

The entryway console table: empty.

The living room: empty.

The dining room: empty.

In the master bedroom, the only thing left was a faint scuff mark on the wall where the headboard used to rest.

The custom sofa I spent three months picking out? Gone.

The dining table? Gone.

The floor lamps? Gone.

The paintings on the walls? Only the hooks remained.

Even the silver decorative pieces on the windowsill had been taken, bases and all.

I walked into my walk-in closet.

The cabinet doors were wide open. Every drawer had been ransacked.

The heavy safe tucked in the very back was still there.

I punched in my passcode.

Error.

I tried again.

Error.

Staring at the flashing red light, I suddenly remembered Mia coming over to try on dresses three months ago.

She had leaned against the safe, giggling. "Serena, don't tell me your passcode is still your birthday? That's way too easy to guess."

I hadn't thought much of it at the time.

Looking back, that wasn't just a casual question.

I used my physical backup key to open the safe.

The velvet jewelry boxes were still there.

But half of them were empty.

Mia used to borrow my jewelry all the time.

She’d say, "I just need it for one night to look the part, please?"

I always let her.

Because I thought you didn't need to guard against your best friend.

I crouched in front of the safe and took a clear photo of every single empty box.

After that, I took screenshots of their Instagram posts.

In Mia’s island vacation photos, she was wearing my diamond necklace.

Carter had his arm around her, wearing my luxury watch on his wrist.

He used to complain that the watch was too delicate, not masculine enough for him.

Turns out, it wasn't that the watch didn't suit him.

It just didn't suit him to wear it in front of me.

I called the building manager and turned on my call recorder.

"My apartment has been completely emptied."

The manager froze for a few seconds.

"Ms. Vance, didn't you give Mr. Hayes and Ms. Brooks permission to move your things?"

"When did I ever agree to that?"

The building manager’s voice instantly filled with panic.

"Last Tuesday night, they brought in two moving trucks. They said you were gutting the place for a remodel and selling off the old furniture. Mr. Hayes had a key, and Ms. Brooks knew the digital door code, so we assumed..."

I cut him off.

"Do you still have the security footage?"

"Yes."

"And the vehicle registration logs for the movers?"

"Yes, those too."

"Save all of it. I'm coming down right now."