Chapter 4
The papers said Andre was suing me.
I read the first page twice because it made no sense.
He claimed I had removed him from Carter Development illegally.
I hadn’t removed him at all.
Not yet.
He claimed he owned forty percent of the company.
He didn’t.
Our father had founded Carter Development.
When he died, the ownership had transferred according to his estate plan.
Sixty-five percent to me.
Twenty percent to Andre.
Fifteen percent held in trust for Noah.
I knew those numbers because I had sat beside Dad in the hospital while Rebecca explained them.
But the papers in my hand said something different.
Forty percent Andre.
Forty-five percent me.
Fifteen percent Noah.
And attached was a copy of an agreement bearing my signature.
A signature I had never written.
Rebecca arrived twenty minutes later.
She didn’t sit down.
She read the documents at my kitchen island while Noah drank hot chocolate at the table.
My mother had left after Tiana.
She said she needed time to think.
I didn’t stop her.
Rebecca reached the signature page.
“This is forged.”
I looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“I watched you sign the actual restructuring documents after your father died.”
She tapped the page.
“You also never use your middle initial on business signatures.”
I looked down.
Marcus J. Carter.
She was right.
I always signed Marcus Carter.
Dad had been Marcus James Carter Sr.
Using the initial had caused confusion when I was younger, so I stopped.
Andre knew that.
Tiana apparently didn’t.
Rebecca continued reading.
“They backdated this eight months.”
Noah looked up.
“That’s when Uncle Andre started meeting Tiana.”
Rebecca stopped.
I turned toward him.
“What?”
He stared into his mug.
“I saw messages.”
My heart started pounding again.
“What kind of messages?”
“On her tablet.”
I sat beside him.
“Noah, tell me.”
He looked embarrassed.
“I wasn’t spying.”
“I know.”
“She left it on the couch. A message popped up from Uncle Andre.”
“What did it say?”
Noah swallowed.
Meet me at the usual place.
Rebecca and I exchanged a look.
“Anything else?”
“I clicked it.”
He looked worried.
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“There were lots of messages.”
“How far back?”
“Months.”
My chest tightened.
“Were they about the company?”
“Some.”
“And the others?”
Noah didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
I knew.
Rebecca knew.
I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
“Dad?”
I walked to the sink.
I gripped the counter.
The woman I planned to marry had not only helped my brother steal from me.
She had been having an affair with him.
I felt humiliated.
But worse than humiliation was the timeline.
Months.
All those nights Tiana told me I worked too much.
All those afternoons she volunteered to pick up Noah.
All those times Andre came to family dinners and sat across from me.
They had watched me laugh.
They had watched me trust them.
And when my son discovered the truth, they had turned on him.
Rebecca came closer.
“Marcus.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I have to be.”
I looked at Noah.
He was watching me carefully.
My anger was frightening him.
So I lowered my shoulders.
I breathed.
Then I sat beside him again.
“You did the right thing.”
“I thought you’d be sad.”
“I am.”
“Because of Tiana?”
“Because people I loved chose to hurt us.”
Noah nodded slowly.
Then he said something that broke my heart.
“I didn’t want you to be alone again.”
I pulled him against me.
After Rochelle died, Noah had watched me fall apart.
Apparently he had carried that fear for four years.
“You are not responsible for keeping me from being alone.”
“But you were happy.”
“I was.”
“With her.”
“I thought I was.”
He pulled back.
“Are you mad I found out?”
“Never.”
His shoulders finally loosened.
Rebecca waited until he went upstairs before talking about the financial side.
“We need a forensic accountant.”
“I know.”
“I also think you should call the police regarding the assault.”
I stared toward the staircase.
“I wanted Noah to decide how much he can handle tonight.”
“That’s reasonable.”
She closed the folder.
“But Marcus, Andre’s lawsuit tells me something important.”
“What?”
“He expected you to discover the theft.”
I looked at her.
“This was prepared before today.”
Exactly.
The filing date was that morning.
Before Noah showed me the video.
Before I confronted Andre.
That meant Andre was already moving against me.
“Why today?”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
“Maybe because something else happened.”
We found out at 10:17 that night.
My bank sent a fraud alert.
Three attempted transfers had been initiated from one of Carter Development’s reserve accounts.
Each transfer was just under $50,000.
All three were directed toward a company I had never heard of.
Briar Consulting LLC.
Rebecca searched the state business registry.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned the laptop toward me.
Briar Consulting had been created seven months earlier.
Registered agent: Tiana Brooks.
I leaned back.
“She owns it?”
“Legally, yes.”
The address was a rented mailbox.
Rebecca began making calls.
I checked my email.
That was when I saw something stranger.
A password reset request for my personal cloud storage.
Sent that afternoon.
Someone had tried to access my files.
I checked the security log.
The location matched Andre’s neighborhood.
I went upstairs.
Noah was sitting on his bed.
“Buddy.”
He looked up.
“Your backup videos. Are they safe?”
“I think so.”
“Can you show me?”
He opened his laptop.
Then froze.
“What?”
He typed again.
His face went pale.
“I can’t get in.”
My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean?”
“The password changed.”
“When?”
He checked the recovery message.
Thirty-eight minutes earlier.
Someone had gotten into Rochelle’s old account.
Someone was deleting my son’s evidence.
Noah looked terrified.
“Dad, the videos.”
I pulled out my phone.
“Rebecca!”
She ran upstairs.
I explained.
She immediately started photographing the screen.
Then Noah suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“I sent one video somewhere else.”
“Where?”
May you like
He looked straight at me.
“To Grandma.”
