I came home from work to find my sister had changed the locks on my house and was telling the locksmith she lived there.
"What the hell are you doing?" I stood on my own porch with my key that didn't work anymore. The locksmith looked uncomfortable.
My sister turned around with this smug smile. "I moved in. Family doesn't pay rent, right?"
She'd been staying at my place for "a few days" after her husband kicked her out three weeks ago. I'd been clear it was temporary. But apparently while I was at my nursing shift, she'd called a locksmith, told him some bullshit story about losing her keys, and had new locks installed.
"You can't just change the locks on someone else's house," I said. My hands were shaking. "This is my house. I have the deed."
"Well now I have the keys." She dangled them in front of me. "And my kids need stability. You wouldn't throw your niece and nephew out on the street, would you?"
The locksmith was backing toward his van. "Ma'am, if there's a property dispute, I can't—"
"There's no dispute," my sister cut him off. "My sister's just being dramatic. She can stay with her boyfriend."
I don't have a boyfriend. I'm single. This is my house that I bought myself.
I called the police from my car. They came, looked at my deed, looked at her standing in my doorway, and told me it was a civil matter. I'd have to file for eviction. Even though it's my house. Even though she broke in and changed my locks.
"You're really doing this?" my sister yelled as the cops left. "You're really going to evict your own family?"
"You broke into my house!"
"I have a key!" She waved the new keys again.
I stayed at a coworker's place that night. Filed eviction paperwork first thing the next morning. My state requires 30 days notice even for someone who broke in, apparently. The whole time my phone was blowing up. My mom, my aunt, my cousins. All telling me I was heartless. That my sister was going through a hard time. That family helps family.
Nobody mentioned that she'd committed literal breaking and entering.
The messages got worse. "You're abandoning children." "What kind of aunt are you?" My sister posted on Facebook about how I was making her kids homeless. Her friends were commenting how awful I was. People I'd known since high school were calling me selfish.
I drove by my house one day and she'd put up Christmas decorations. On my house. It was June.
When the 30 days were up, she didn't leave. Of course she didn't. So I got the sheriff involved. They gave her a date and time she had to be out.
I showed up with the sheriff on eviction day. My sister was standing on the porch with her kids, crying, playing the victim for the neighbors who'd come out to watch. "Please, don't do this. We have nowhere to go."
"You can go back to your husband," I said.
"He doesn't want me anymore!" She was practically screaming. "He found out about—" She stopped. Looked around at all the neighbors. "You're doing this on purpose."
"Found out about what?" I wasn't letting her off the hook.
That's when her husband's truck pulled up. He got out looking confused. "Your mom called me. Said there was an emergency with the kids?"
My sister went white.
"There's no emergency," I told him. "She's being evicted from my house for changing the locks and refusing to leave."
He looked at her. Then at my house. "You told me you were staying with your mom."
"I am, I—"
"Your mom lives in a retirement community. They don't allow long-term guests." He was putting it together. "Where have you actually been?"
The sheriff was getting impatient. "Ma'am, you need to remove your belongings now."
"Can we talk about this later?" My sister was trying to pull her husband aside but he wasn't moving.
"Who owns this house?" he asked me.
"I do."
He turned to her. "You said your sister wouldn't let you visit your kids. You said she was keeping them from you and that's why I couldn't see them for three weeks."
One of the neighbors gasped.
"You've had the kids here the whole time?" His voice was getting louder. "I've been sending child support to your account thinking they were with your mother, and you've been living in your sister's house that you broke into?"
"It's not like that—"
"Where's the money, Sarah?" He never called her by her name like that. "The $3,000 I sent for the kids?"
Oh. OH. That's why she could afford the locksmith.
She started crying harder. "I needed it, I needed to get settled—"
"You stole from our kids." He looked disgusted. "And you lied to me about where they were. For three weeks."
The sheriff was loading her stuff into her car. The kids were sitting on the curb looking confused. Her husband was on his phone.
"Who are you calling?" she asked.
"My lawyer. You're not getting custody." He hung up and looked at the kids. "Get in my truck. You're coming home."
"You can't just take them!"
"Watch me. You abandoned them with your sister who you broke into to. You stole their child support. You lied about their location." He was shaking. "I'm filing for emergency custody today."
My sister tried to block him from the kids but he walked right past her. The kids went with him without arguing. I think they were relieved.
After they left, my sister sat in her car in my driveway screaming. Just screaming. The neighbors were still watching. Eventually she drove away.
I haven't heard from her since. My mom stopped calling me heartless once she found out about the stolen child support and the lying. Apparently my sister had been telling everyone a completely different story. My aunt actually apologized.
I changed the locks again. Got a security system. My sister's Instagram is full of posts about betrayal and fake family members, but she never mentions the breaking and entering part or the stealing from her kids part.
Her husband got emergency custody. She gets supervised visitation every other weekend.
But my whole family keeps hinting that I should "be the bigger person" and let it go. That she's suffered enough. That family forgives.
I don't know. I got my house back but now I'm the villain at every family gathering. Maybe I should have just let her stay and figured something else out. Now I'm wondering if I overreacted. AITAH?