A day and a half. That's all it took to undo years of effort. Walls stripped. Floors ripped up. Cabinetry dismantled. The warm, comfortable home reduced to a cold concrete shell.
"Miss Sarah, per your instructions, everything you purchased has been removed." Liam wiped dust from his face. "Personal items belonging to the residents are stacked in the corner."
He handed me a clipboard. "Inventory of the furniture and appliances you bought. Some of it's still in good condition. We can call a recycler, or..."
I glanced at the list—items I'd once treasured, saved months to buy.
"If it sells, sell it. If not, haul it away as trash."
"Understood."
A few calls later, a secondhand recycler arrived with a truck. Piece by piece, they carried out the sofas, tables, television—everything I'd carefully selected to make this house a home.
"Final payment and bonus transferred," I said as the last truck pulled away. "Thank you, Liam."
I stood in the center of the room one last time.
Gray walls. Rough concrete. Uneven floor.
The warmth was gone.
The apartment had returned to exactly what it was before I stepped into their lives.
An empty shell.