Chapter 5
Renee reached for her phone.
I grabbed her wrist.
"Don't open it."
Marcus knocked again.
"Nia, please."
His voice sounded gentle.
Almost loving.
The same voice he used when he brought me flowers.
The same voice that once promised he would never hurt me.
I stared at the door.
For three years, I had believed that voice meant safety.
Now it made my skin crawl.
Renee quietly called 911.
I called Detective Price.
"He's here."
Her response was immediate.
"Keep the doors locked. Stay away from the windows."
Marcus knocked harder.
"I know you're angry. But you have to hear me."
I moved toward the hallway, keeping out of sight.
Renee whispered, "Don't answer."
But I needed to know whether he would expose himself.
I spoke through the closed door.
"Why are you here?"
He exhaled loudly.
"Oh, thank God."
"Answer me."
"I've been looking everywhere for you."
"You disappeared from the hospital."
"Because the police were treating me like a criminal."
I looked at Renee.
She shook her head.
Marcus continued.
"This is all a misunderstanding."
"Then explain the messages."
Silence.
"Marcus?"
"I shouldn't have sent them."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"But I was trying to keep Maya from upsetting you."
My heart hammered.
"She was dying."
"I didn't know she was hurt."
"Why did you tell her I wasn't coming?"
"Because she'd been making threats."
I felt something inside me harden.
"What threats?"
"She wanted money."
I nearly laughed.
Maya had worked part-time throughout college.
She refused to let me buy expensive gifts.
She saved every dollar she could.
"You're lying."
"Nia, listen to yourself."
There it was again.
The familiar insult disguised as concern.
"You're grieving," he continued. "You're not thinking rationally."
Renee gripped my arm.
I could see how badly she wanted to scream at him.
Instead, she stayed quiet.
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Open the door. I'll explain everything."
"No."
"Nia."
"Did you threaten my daughter?"
The silence lasted too long.
Then he said, "She was interfering in things she didn't understand."
I looked at the phone recording our conversation.
"What things?"
"Business matters."
"Fake hospital invoices?"
Another silence.
"Who told you about that?"
My blood turned cold.
I heard movement outside.
A soft metallic sound.
Then the front door handle shifted.
Once.
Twice.
He was testing the lock.
"Marcus, step away from the door."
"You're making a terrible mistake."
Renee pulled me backward.
We heard him move along the porch.
Then the sound of something striking a window.
Renee gasped.
I called out, "The police are coming!"
Marcus cursed.
A car engine started moments later.
By the time officers arrived, he was gone.
But the porch camera had captured everything.
His face.
His voice.
The way he tried the door.
The object he used to strike the window frame.
Detective Price arrived shortly afterward.
She watched the recording without speaking.
Then she looked at me.
"He knows about the investigation."
"He's dangerous."
"Yes."
It was the first time she'd said it so plainly.
She advised us to stay somewhere else temporarily.
Renee refused to leave me alone.
We packed essentials and moved to a secure hotel arranged with the help of a victim-support organization.
I hated hiding.
I hated being frightened.
But I promised myself I would survive long enough to make Marcus answer for what he had done.
The next morning brought the first real breakthrough.
Police found Marcus's car inside a storage garage belonging to one of his companies.
The front bumper had recently been replaced.
The headlights were new.
And the vehicle had been professionally cleaned.
But investigators recovered damaged parts from a dumpster nearby.
Detective Price called me personally.
"We're comparing the evidence with the scene."
"Do you think it was his car?"
"There are strong indications."
I closed my eyes.
Maya's face appeared in my mind.
Then her frightened message.
Mom, please come.
I gripped the phone.
"Did he kill her?"
"We are investigating that possibility."
It wasn't enough.
I wanted someone to say yes.
I wanted him arrested.
I wanted the entire world to know what he had done.
But Detective Price reminded me that proving the truth mattered more than moving quickly.
Later that afternoon, Renee sat beside me as I opened Maya's cloud photo album.
There were hundreds of pictures.
Coffee cups.
Selfies.
College friends.
Our ridiculous Christmas sweaters.
Then I found a photograph from three weeks earlier.
Maya and me standing outside our house.
She was hugging me from behind.
I remembered that day.
She had asked whether we could take a weekend trip together.
Just us.
I had refused because Marcus had already planned a business dinner.
At the time, Maya looked disappointed.
Now I understood why she wanted time alone.
She needed to talk where Marcus couldn't hear.
I pressed my hand to the screen.
"I'm sorry, baby."
Renee put an arm around me.
We sat quietly until my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
You think Maya was the only one who found something?
Beneath it was a photograph.
A woman standing outside a downtown office building.
I recognized her immediately.
Elaine Brooks.
But she wasn't alone.
Standing beside her was Marcus.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
A second message arrived.
They're planning to leave tonight.
May you like
Then another.
Ask your detective about the second witness.
