Chapter 352: Chapter 352: I’m Breaking the Lease

"..."

Melody Summers finished reading the group chat, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

This "4-1604 CloudSeeker" had to be Zella Kane!

It seemed she had flown into a rage after being refused the apartment and had run to the group chat to spread these rumors.

She wanted to stir things up and let all the owners in The Metropolis Residences know that Apartment 1606 had food.

Thankfully, Crystal Lynch and Joyce Lawson had jumped in to help, derailing the conversation. Otherwise, who knows how much it would have escalated...

Melody clutched her phone, muttering, "The Kane family is truly disgusting..."

She thought for a moment, then found the property manager Tate’s account and sent him a message:

["Tate, I’m no longer renting out Apartment 4-1604. I’m willing to pay the tenant the penalty for breaking the lease as stipulated in the contract. Please come by tomorrow and help me contact the tenant to terminate the agreement."]

Melody hadn’t wanted to bother with the Kane family, but since they had started trouble, she wasn’t going to show them any courtesy.

The Kanes were malicious. Leaving them here was a liability, so it was better to kick them out sooner rather than later.

As for Titus Lowell in 1603... his comments in the group chat had also been outrageous recently. Although he had only stuck to verbal threats so far, Melody wasn’t going to let him stay either.

Fortunately, Titus Lowell was on a one-month short-term lease, with only about twenty days left on the contract. So, Melody sent another message to Tate:

["I’m not planning to renew the lease for 1603 either. Please inform the tenant and tell him to move out when the lease ends!"]

After sending the messages, Melody glanced at the group chat again. Since the topic had already passed, she decided not to explain herself in the chat. It was better to stay silent for now and avoid attracting any more attention.

Just in case, Melody thought it over and decided to show the group chat history to her whole family.

After reading the chat history, everyone was furious.

Colin Summers slammed his hand on the table angrily and scolded, "Is there something wrong with Caleb’s mother-in-law’s family? This is just malicious! How could they say those things in the group chat?" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Grace Sutton, however, laughed in fury. She snorted coldly and said, "Haven’t you figured it out yet? It’s because we wouldn’t lend them the apartment, so they decided to retaliate like this! That family is truly crooked!"

Her grandmother stared worriedly at the chat logs on the screen, repeatedly reading them. "What are we going to do?" she asked, her face etched with concern. "Everyone in the group knows we have supplies now. Will they come to our door and try to rob us of our food?"

Melody comforted her grandmother. "Grandma, don’t worry. It probably won’t happen for now. Order in our community has been relatively stable, and the police and property management are very responsible. If they tried to rob us, the police wouldn’t let them get away with it. They wouldn’t dare take that risk."

Right now, everyone could get free sand vine cakes. As long as they behaved, they wouldn’t starve to death.

But if they were to commit a home invasion, under the current laws, there’s a high probability they would be shot on sight.

The community’s order hadn’t collapsed yet, and criminals weren’t idiots. It’s not worth risking their lives for a bite of food.

Just in case, Melody still warned Colin Summers and Winnie Summers, "Our doors and windows are reinforced, so an ordinary person can’t break in. As long as we don’t go out, we’ll be fine. But Mom, and you, Uncle, have to go to the supply distribution point for work every day. You need to be careful and make sure no one follows you!"

Hearing this, Winnie Summers replied, "Don’t worry about us. We won’t have to go to work in a few days!"

Seeing the family’s confused looks, Colin Summers explained, "The snow is getting heavier and heavier. The government has taken into account how inconvenient it is for everyone to go out in the snow every day to collect supplies, so they’re preparing to distribute a two-month supply to all residents at once!"

Winnie Summers nodded in agreement. "That’s right. It’s different from the high-temperature period before. At the current temperatures, sand vine cakes can be stored on the balcony for one or two months without spoiling. So the government is planning to distribute a two-month supply at once, allowing everyone to stay home and shelter from the extreme cold and blizzards."

"We’ve been receiving the supplies these past couple of days, and we’ll be able to arrange for distribution in another two days! Once the distribution is complete, we’ll be able to stay home for the next two months."

Hearing this from the two of them, the rest of the family finally felt a sense of relief.

Grace Sutton, however, was still fuming the more she thought about it. She stood up and said, "No, this won’t do. I’m going next door to confront those Kanes. I’m going to ask them what the hell they think they’re doing! This morning they were here trying to cozy up to us, calling us ’in-laws’ this and ’in-laws’ that, and now they turn around and stab us in the back!"

As Grace spoke, she started walking toward the door, looking as if she were about to roll up her sleeves and start a fight with the Kane family.

Melody quickly moved to stop her. "Aunt Grace, calm down! You don’t need to go waste your breath on them. I have a way to deal with them!"

Melody pulled Grace Sutton back to the sofa and had her sit down. As Grace watched her quizzically, Melody told them about how she had previously bought Apartment 1604.

Melody was in charge of the Summers family’s finances now, so when the family heard she had bought another apartment, they were surprised but didn’t say much.

Melody continued, "I just told the property management. I’m breaking the lease. I’ll pay the Kane family the penalty fee and have them move out of 1604 tomorrow!"

Grace Sutton still looked worried. "Will they agree to move out? There’s the ’sale does not break the lease’ principle. What if they refuse to leave no matter what?"

Melody replied, "You don’t have to worry about that. During the government’s previous asset liquidation, people kept using rental agreements to find loopholes, so the policy was changed after the cataclysm. As long as the penalty is paid, the owner can propose an early termination of the lease."

Speaking of which, Melody suddenly remembered the call from Nina Summers earlier. She reminded her family again, "Right, the issue with the Kane family is easy to solve, but there’s something else I didn’t get a chance to tell you..."

"My cousin Nina just called me. She said that because we refused to vacate the apartment for the Kane family, Caleb’s new wife is unhappy."

"To appease his wife, Caleb might try to cause trouble for us. Mom, Grandma, Uncle, Aunt Grace, we all need to be careful. If you get any messages from my second uncle, don’t just believe what he says. Don’t let him scheme against you!"

After hearing Melody out, the anger that Colin had just managed to suppress flared up even stronger.

He slammed his hand on the table again, fuming, "That damn number two! Has he forgotten who his real mother is? To think he’d turn against us for his mother-in-law!"

Grandma’s expression turned awful. She was so angry she was on the verge of tears. In a choked voice, she said, "Heavens above... what sins did I commit... I’d have been better off giving birth to a pork bun!"

Miss Lowell, who had been sitting quietly to the side, patted Grandma’s shoulder comfortingly and whispered, "Some children come into this world as a blessing, others as a debt. You have to try and let it go."

Grace Sutton frowned, her furious face also showing a hint of confusion. She asked, "How does Caleb plan to deal with us? We don’t even live together... He may be an official, but he doesn’t have the power to do whatever he wants in Anworth, does he? He can’t possibly kick us out of the community, can he?"

Melody shook her head. She didn’t know either. For now, they would just have to deal with whatever came their way...

******

Meanwhile, Zella Kane saw that not only had she failed to stir up the people in the group chat, but they were now all targeting her. Furious, she threw her phone onto the bed!

She pounded the bed frame angrily while yelling, "Who the hell are 1806 and 1601! And 1209! I didn’t do anything to them, did I? What right do they have to target me like this!"