Over the next few hours, the calls and texts continued. Mom demanded to know how I could do this to family.
Dad threatened to get lawyers involved until I reminded him that he’d signed all the paperwork himself. He just hadn’t bothered to ask who the buyer was.
Various relatives weighed in with their outrage, but their leverage was gone. I own the property now. Their opinions were just noise.
The most telling message came from Aunt Jennifer, who’d been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Marcus’ social media post.
“Maybe we should talk about this like adults. I’m sure we can work something out that makes everyone happy.”
I didn’t respond to any of them.
Instead, I called David Chin back.
“I’d like to discuss the rental policies for the property. What are your most restrictive terms?”
“Well, we can require significant security deposits, mandate professional cleaning both before and after stays, and implement strict policies about parties, noise, and property damage. We can also maintain a blacklist of guests who’ve proven problematic.”
“Implement all of that. And David, add Marcus Rodriguez, Tom Rodriguez, and Linda Rodriguez to the blacklist. Permanent ban.”
“Understood. Should I note the reason?”
“Property damage and failure to respect ownership rights.”
“Consider it done.”
That evening, I poured myself a glass of wine and opened my laptop.
Marcus’ social media post was still there, but the tone of the comments had shifted dramatically. Someone had figured out what happened, and word was spreading.
The new comments were a mix of shock, confusion, and grudging respect.
“Wait, she bought the cabin?”
“How did she afford that?”
“Maybe we don’t know the whole story here.”
But Marcus hadn’t taken the post down. If anything, he doubled down, adding comments about betraying family and using tricks to steal family property.
Each comment made him look smaller and more desperate.
I started typing a comment of my own, then stopped. There was nothing to say. The results spoke for themselves.
Instead, I opened a new browser tab and started researching vacation rental properties in the area. If I was going to own a Lake Tahoe cabin, I might as well make it profitable.
According to the rental comps, I could easily cover the property expenses and generate significant income. Properties like mine were booking months in advance during peak season.