My six-year-old nephew dragged his broken leg across seven blocks of pavement to reach my porch, with his starving three-year-old sister clinging to his shirt. I was fixing a loose hinge when I heard scraping on the steps and turned to see Drew crawling toward me, pale, shaking, and whispering, “She locked us downstairs again.” I called 911 before I even understood the whole story. But when he told me about Reena’s punishment room, I knew my brother had died believing a terrible lie.
“The agreement states that the house, any appreciation in its value, and all proceeds arising from it remain her separate property. It also prohibits you from encumbering it, leasing it, admitting long-term occupants without her written consent, or representing it as jointly owned.”
