Chapter 2
The first thing I saw was a man's shoe.
Brown leather.
Expensive.
Then gray dress pants.
Then the face.
I stopped breathing.
"Mr. Henderson?"
My father-in-law froze in the doorway.
Charles Henderson had always carried himself like a man who believed every room belonged to him.
Tall.
Perfectly trimmed beard.
Custom suits.
The type of businessman who could insult you while smiling.
But now his shirt was wrinkled.
His expression was terrified.
And he was standing inside my house.
"Marcus."
I stared at him.
"What are you doing here?"
He didn't answer.
I looked past him.
The room was empty.
No Rachel.
Just boxes.
Documents.
Two laptops.
A printer.
Stacks of bank statements.
My confusion deepened.
"Where's my wife?"
Charles stepped into the hallway.
"You need to lower your voice."
That sentence nearly made me laugh.
"This is my house."
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
I moved closer.
"You are hiding in my dead father's office, my brother is showering here, my mother looks terrified, and my wife lied about being out of town."
I pointed toward him.
"So somebody is going to start telling the truth."
Charles looked at Mom.
"Denise?"
She shook her head.
"He deserves to know."
Charles sighed.
"Rachel has made some mistakes."
My stomach dropped.
"What mistakes?"
He adjusted his cuff.
Even now, he couldn't stop behaving like a businessman giving a presentation.
"Financial ones."
Andre muttered,
"That's one way to describe it."
Charles glared at him.
I looked at Andre.
"What does that mean?"
Andre disappeared into the guest room and returned wearing sweatpants.
He handed me a folder.
I opened it.
Bank statements.
Transfers.
Credit card records.
At first I didn't understand what I was looking at.
Then I saw my name.
Marcus Carter.
A checking account I recognized.
Our joint savings.
The balance made my mouth go dry.
Before deployment, Rachel and I had almost eighty thousand dollars saved.
Now there was less than six thousand.
I looked up.
"What happened?"
Charles spoke quietly.
"Rachel withdrew it."
"For what?"
"Marcus..."
"For what?"
Nobody answered.
I flipped through the pages faster.
There were wire transfers.
Payments to companies I'd never heard of.
Luxury hotel charges.
Jewelry.
Thousands spent at restaurants.
A lease payment for an apartment downtown.
I stopped.
"What apartment?"
Mom sat down on the hallway bench.
Andre looked sick.
Charles closed his eyes.
I repeated,
"What apartment?"
Andre finally answered.
"Rachel has another place."
The words didn't make sense.
"Why?"
"Because she hasn't been living here full time."
My chest tightened.
"I call this house."
Mom nodded tearfully.
"I know."
"She answers from our bedroom."
"Sometimes."
I looked at her.
"Sometimes?"
She wiped her face.
"Sometimes she comes here before you call."
The hallway suddenly felt too narrow.
"How long?"
No one answered.
"HOW LONG?"
Andre flinched.
Charles said,
"About seven months."
I backed away.
Seven months.
Almost my entire deployment.
"Where has she been living?"
Andre looked toward the folder.
"The downtown apartment."
I flipped through more papers.
Two names were listed on the lease.
Rachel Carter.
And...
I stopped.
The second name made absolutely no sense.
"Evan Brooks?"
Silence.
I knew Evan.
Everyone did.
He wasn't a stranger.
He wasn't some random man she'd met while I was gone.
Evan had been my closest friend since high school.
He stood beside me at my wedding.
He hugged me before I deployed.
He told me,
"Don't worry, brother. I'll keep an eye on everything."
I felt something collapse inside my chest.
I looked at Mom.
"No."
Her tears answered before her mouth did.
"No."
I shook my head.
"No."
Andre grabbed my shoulder.
I shoved his hand away.
"Don't."
"Marcus."
"How long have you known?"
He hesitated.
"Three weeks."
That hurt too.
"Three weeks?"
"I didn't know how to tell you."
"So you just let me keep calling her?"
"We were trying to get proof."
I laughed bitterly.
"You needed proof?"
Andre pointed toward the office.
"Not just of the affair."
I stopped.
"What else?"
Charles stepped between us.
"This is bigger than Rachel sleeping with Evan."
My anger snapped toward him.
"Careful."
He nodded.
"You're right."
His voice softened.
"But there are things happening financially that could affect you."
"How?"
He looked toward the papers.
"Rachel has been using your identity."
My skin went cold.
"What?"
"Loans."
Charles swallowed.
"Credit lines. Business accounts."
I stared at him.
"Business?"
Andre walked into the office and brought out another box.
He placed it on the floor.
Inside were contracts.
Company registrations.
Loan applications.
Several contained signatures that looked exactly like mine.
Except I had never signed them.
I picked one up.
A business loan.
Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Borrower: Marcus Carter.
Personal guarantor: Marcus Carter.
My hands began shaking.
"This isn't my signature."
"We know."
Mom stood beside me.
"We found these last week."
"How?"
Andre answered.
"Because I came here looking for Mom."
I frowned.
He continued.
"She called me scared. Rachel had started receiving letters addressed to you and hiding them."
Mom nodded.
"I accidentally opened one."
I looked at her.
"It was a collection notice."
She pointed toward the boxes.
"Then I started looking."
Charles spoke quietly.
"Rachel found out."
I looked at him.
"And?"
"She threatened Denise."
My head snapped around.
"What?"
Mom immediately said,
"It wasn't physical."
"That isn't what I asked."
She looked down.
"Rachel told me if I contacted you, she'd report Andre."
"For what?"
Andre gave a humorless laugh.
"For stealing from you."
I stared at him.
"She planned to blame you?"
"Looks like it."
Charles finally stepped forward.
"That is why I'm here."
I looked at him.
"Why would you help us?"
His face changed.
For the first time, I saw shame.
"Because Rachel is my daughter."
He paused.
"And because I helped create the woman who thought she could do this."
Before I could respond, a phone rang inside the office.
Everyone froze.
It wasn't mine.
Charles walked slowly toward the desk.
A phone was vibrating beside one of the laptops.
Rachel's name flashed across the screen.
Charles looked at me.
"She doesn't know you're home."
My jaw tightened.
"Answer it."
He hesitated.
I pointed at the phone.
"Answer."
Charles put it on speaker.
"Hello?"
Rachel's voice filled the room.
"Dad, are you still at the house?"
My entire body went rigid.
Charles looked at me.
"Yes."
"Good. Get those documents before Denise does something stupid."
Mom covered her mouth.
Rachel continued.
"And make sure Andre leaves. Evan and I are coming by tonight."
I stepped closer to the phone.
Charles closed his eyes.
Rachel laughed softly.
"Once Marcus signs the insurance forms next week, everything is finally done."
My heart stopped.
Insurance forms?
Charles looked horrified.
I mouthed,
"What insurance?"
May you like
Before he could answer, Rachel said something that made every person in that hallway go silent.
"After that, Marcus won't be our problem much longer."
