Chapter 6
Andre knocked like he still belonged there.
Three hard knocks.
Mom stood frozen.
Tiana remained one step behind him on the porch.
Rebecca quietly took out her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Recording.”
Andre knocked again.
“Mom!”
Noah flinched.
I stood.
“You stay with Rebecca.”
“No.”
His answer surprised me.
“I don’t want to hide.”
I looked at him.
There was fear in his face.
But there was something else now.
Anger.
“I’m not asking you to hide,” I said. “I’m asking you to stay where I can see you.”
He nodded.
Mom opened the door but kept the chain latched.
Andre stared through the gap.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
Mom had rarely told him no.
“Tiana said Marcus is here.”
My mother looked back at me.
I walked forward.
Andre saw me.
His expression changed.
“What are you doing in Dad’s study?”
I almost laughed.
“You’re worried about that?”
“You’ve been going through private family documents.”
“Dad left those documents for me.”
Andre’s jaw tightened.
“What documents?”
That reaction told Rebecca everything.
She stepped into view.
“The kind your attorney will probably want to review.”
Andre stared at her.
“Why are you here?”
“Because Marcus is my client.”
Tiana pulled at Andre’s arm.
“We should leave.”
I looked at her.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Tiana.”
She stopped.
“Did you change the password on Rochelle’s account?”
Her face betrayed her.
Andre turned toward her.
“What account?”
Interesting.
He hadn’t known.
Tiana had been acting independently.
Rebecca noticed too.
“You accessed a deceased woman’s cloud storage?” she asked.
Tiana shook her head.
“No.”
“Then you won’t mind if the access logs are preserved.”
Tiana looked at Andre.
His face hardened.
“You told me everything was handled.”
“It was.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Neither answered.
Noah stepped beside me.
“I backed it up again.”
Tiana’s eyes snapped toward him.
He was bluffing.
I realized it immediately.
So did Rebecca.
Andre didn’t.
His face changed.
“Where?”
Noah said nothing.
Andre hit the door with his palm.
“Where did you put it?”
Mom slammed the door.
The chain rattled.
Noah jumped.
I pulled him behind me.
Andre shouted from the porch.
“That kid has no idea what he’s doing!”
I opened the door again before Mom could stop me.
Andre stood inches away.
I didn’t step outside.
“You put your hands on my son.”
“He was stealing my phone.”
“You hit him.”
“He attacked Caleb.”
Noah shouted from behind me.
“That’s a lie!”
Andre pointed past me.
“See? No respect.”
My vision narrowed.
“Leave.”
“Marcus, listen to me.”
“Leave.”
He lowered his voice.
“You think you can shut me out of the company?”
“I think you already shut yourself out.”
His nostrils flared.
“Dad built that company for both of us.”
“Then why did you steal from it?”
He froze.
Tiana whispered, “Andre.”
Rebecca kept recording.
I continued.
“How much?”
He looked toward my mother.
“Mom, you’re really standing there letting him accuse me?”
My mother’s eyes filled with tears.
“I should have stopped protecting you years ago.”
Andre’s expression changed completely.
“You told him.”
“I told him the truth.”
“You had no right.”
“That is exactly the problem,” she said. “You think everyone owes you silence.”
Andre stared at her.
For the first time, I saw the child he had been.
The younger brother who cried when Dad made him return something he stole from a store.
The teenager Mom defended after he wrecked her car.
The adult she rescued from debts.
We had all helped build the man standing on that porch.
Not by causing his choices.
But by shielding him from consequences.
Andre pointed at me.
“You always got everything.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Dad’s respect.”
His voice cracked.
“The company.”
“You own part of the company.”
“Twenty percent.”
“That was Dad’s decision.”
“And Noah gets fifteen?”
He laughed bitterly.
“A child owns almost as much as me.”
There it was.
Dad had been right.
Resentment.
Not just money.
Noah stepped forward.
“I didn’t ask Grandpa for anything.”
Andre looked at him.
“You should’ve stayed out of grown business.”
I moved between them.
“Don’t talk to him.”
Andre shook his head.
“This started because your kid couldn’t mind his business.”
“No.”
I looked him directly in the eyes.
“This started because you became someone who thinks hurting a child is easier than admitting you’re a thief.”
Andre lunged one step forward.
Rebecca spoke sharply.
“Everything is being recorded.”
He stopped.
Tiana backed away.
Andre looked around as if suddenly realizing how bad the scene appeared.
He turned.
“Come on.”
But Tiana didn’t move.
He looked at her.
“Tiana.”
She stared at him.
“You said he wouldn’t find the letter.”
Andre’s face drained.
I heard Rebecca inhale.
“What letter?” I asked.
Tiana covered her mouth.
Andre grabbed her wrist.
“Get in the car.”
She pulled away.
“You said his father’s letter was destroyed.”
My mother gasped.
Andre stared at her with pure rage.
“You kept it?”
Mom stepped backward.
I suddenly understood.
Andre knew about Dad’s warning letter.
He had searched for it.
Maybe years ago.
Maybe recently.
Rebecca’s voice remained calm.
“Andre, you should stop talking.”
He looked toward her.
Then toward me.
Then he made the worst choice possible.
He ran.
Not toward his car.
Toward the side gate leading to Mom’s backyard.
“Marcus!” Rebecca shouted.
I followed.
Andre reached the back door before I did.
He tried the handle.
Locked.
He moved toward Dad’s study window.
That was when I understood.
He wasn’t running away.
He was trying to get inside.
Trying to destroy whatever he believed Dad had left behind.
But he didn’t know we had already scanned everything.
May you like
Andre lifted a patio chair.
And aimed it at the study window.
