“I need you to immediately cancel any secondary access codes for my apartment and reprogram the electronic lock to invalidate all physical keys currently in circulation.”
There was a brief moment of confusion on the other end of the line before the night guard finally found his voice.
“Did something happen tonight, Miss Vance, or is there an active threat that I should be aware of for the building logs?”
“My sister is currently traveling here with three children and several pieces of luggage, but she is absolutely not authorized to enter my home under any circumstances,” I replied.
“If she arrives and tries to use a key that my mother gave her without my consent, I want to ensure that the door remains locked and that she is denied entry to the elevator.”
The tone of the guard’s voice shifted from professional curiosity to alert cooperation as he realized the gravity of my request.
“I understand your instructions completely, and I will contact the maintenance supervisor right now to update the digital registry for your unit,” he assured me.
Once I hung up the phone, I opened my messaging app to send a direct question to the woman who had facilitated this entire intrusion.
“Did you actually give Sienna the spare key to my apartment so she could let herself in while I was sleeping?”
I watched the typing bubbles appear and disappear several times as my mother struggled to find an excuse that wouldn’t sound like a complete betrayal of my privacy.
“Just let them in for the night, Leona, and please try not to make a situation that is already stressful even more difficult for everyone involved,” she finally wrote.
