Chapter 3
I thought Nia was lying.
I wanted her to be lying.
Because the alternative meant nearly everything she'd told me about her childhood was false.
I stared at her.
"Your father is alive?"
She nodded.
I sat down slowly.
For three years, I'd believed Nia's father died when she was sixteen.
She told me the accident happened on a rainy highway outside Atlanta.
She said her mother never recovered emotionally.
She cried when we discussed him.
She kept an old photograph on her dresser.
At our wedding, we placed a white rose on an empty chair in his memory.
Now she was telling me he'd been alive the entire time.
I looked at her.
"Nia, why would you lie about something like that?"
Her lips trembled.
"Because my mother told me he was dead."
I frowned.
"What?"
She wiped her cheeks.
"When I was sixteen, my father disappeared."
I remained silent.
"Mom said he'd been killed in a car accident."
My chest tightened.
"Did you ever see a death certificate?"
She shook her head.
"I was a kid, Marcus."
I nodded slowly.
"Okay."
She continued.
"I believed her."
I looked toward the photograph on her dresser.
A smiling man stood beside a teenage Nia.
His arm rested around her shoulders.
I'd looked at that picture hundreds of times.
I thought it was the last memory she had of him.
"When did you find out he was alive?"
Nia swallowed.
"Four months ago."
I felt cold.
Four months.
A month before she borrowed the money.
I looked at her.
"How?"
She took a shaky breath.
"Caleb contacted me."
My jaw tightened.
"Of course he did."
She looked ashamed.
"He said he'd found my father."
I stared at her.
"Why would Caleb know where your father was?"
She shook her head.
"I didn't understand either."
Then she explained.
Caleb had approached her outside the salon where she worked.
He told her that her father, Raymond Ellis, was alive and living under another name.
At first, Nia refused to believe him.
Then Caleb showed her photographs.
A man in his late fifties.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably Raymond.
Nia said she nearly collapsed.
She demanded to know where he was.
Caleb refused to answer unless she agreed to meet him privately.
My stomach tightened.
"And you went?"
She nodded.
"I wanted answers."
I stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Caleb warned me that talking about it could put my father in danger."
I shook my head.
"Nia, that sounds like manipulation."
"I know that now."
She began crying.
"But he showed me enough to make me believe him."
I took a breath.
"What happened next?"
She looked down.
"Caleb said my father had gotten involved in financial crimes years ago."
My heart tightened.
"He said Raymond had cooperated with investigators and disappeared because people were threatening him."
I stared at her.
"Did you verify any of that?"
She shook her head.
"He wouldn't let me contact my father directly."
I closed my eyes.
Caleb had created the perfect trap.
He'd used Nia's deepest childhood wound.
Then offered her something she'd wanted for thirteen years.
The chance to see her father again.
"And the money?" I asked.
Nia wiped her face.
"He said he needed funds to arrange a safe meeting."
I stared at her.
"One hundred and twenty thousand dollars?"
She nodded.
I felt sick.
"Nia, that's not a loan for a business."
She lowered her head.
"I know."
I sat beside her.
"Did you actually invest in the beauty supply company?"
She shook her head.
"No."
I stared at the floor.
Another lie.
I had to force myself to remain calm.
"Where did the money come from?"
She hesitated.
"I used my personal savings. Then I took out a loan."
I looked at her.
"In your name?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
I exhaled.
At least she hadn't secretly mortgaged our home.
Then she whispered, "Caleb promised he'd return the money."
I looked at her.
"Did he?"
She shook her head.
"No."
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
I felt angry.
Hurt.
Exhausted.
But beneath all that, I saw a woman who had been manipulated by someone who knew exactly how to hurt her.
Then I remembered the hidden camera.
The second phone.
The window.
And my father's inheritance.
I stood.
"Nia, what does Caleb want tonight?"
She looked up.
"He wants the original property documents."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"He says they're connected to an old investigation involving your father."
My stomach tightened.
"My father?"
She nodded.
I felt cold.
My father, Harold Bennett, had died eight months earlier.
He was a respected real estate developer.
He owned several commercial properties.
He was strict.
Demanding.
But I believed he was honest.
I couldn't understand why Caleb would connect him to Raymond Ellis.
"What investigation?"
Nia shook her head.
"I don't know."
I looked toward my office.
The blue folder contained more than a property deed.
It included correspondence from my father's attorney.
Old partnership records.
And information about a company he had dissolved years earlier.
I'd barely reviewed it.
Could there be something hidden inside?
I took a breath.
"Where is Caleb now?"
Nia looked toward the window.
"I don't know."
I held up the second phone.
"Then we'll find out."
I called the police non-emergency line and reported the suspected unauthorized surveillance and attempted entry.
I also told them someone had been approaching our bedroom window.
They advised us to remain inside, secure the house, and avoid confronting anyone outside.
I followed those instructions.
Then I called my attorney, Olivia Grant.
She had handled my father's estate.
It was nearly one in the morning.
She answered after three rings.
"Marcus?"
"I'm sorry to call this late."
Her tone changed.
"What's wrong?"
I explained the situation.
The messages.
The property documents.
The hidden camera.
Caleb's claims.
Olivia listened without interrupting.
Then she asked, "Did Caleb mention a company name?"
I frowned.
"No."
She hesitated.
"Marcus, do you have the blue folder?"
"Yes."
"Open it."
I walked into my office.
Nia followed.
I unlocked the desk drawer.
The folder was still there.
I placed it on the desk.
"What am I looking for?"
Olivia took a breath.
"A document titled Ellis Development Holdings."
I froze.
Ellis.
Nia's maiden name.
I looked at her.
Her face went pale.
I opened the folder.
There it was.
A document bearing the exact company name Olivia had mentioned.
I stared at it.
Then at Nia.
"Why is your father's surname on my father's business records?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
Olivia spoke through the phone.
"Marcus, your father and Raymond Ellis were business partners."
I felt my stomach drop.
"What?"
"They worked together nearly twenty years ago."
I stared at the paperwork.
Nia covered her mouth.
Then Olivia said something even worse.
"Marcus, before your father died, he asked me to preserve these documents until you were ready to review them."
My heartbeat quickened.
"Why?"
She hesitated.
"Because he believed someone had been trying to locate Raymond Ellis for years."
I felt cold.
"Who?"
Olivia took a breath.
"Caleb Monroe's father."
I stared at Nia.
Her eyes widened.
Then Olivia continued.
"And Marcus, there's something you need to know before you confront Caleb."
"What?"
"Your father's records suggest Raymond didn't disappear because he was guilty."
I gripped the desk.
"Then why?"
Olivia's voice became frighteningly serious.
May you like
"Because he witnessed a financial crime involving Caleb's family."
And as those words settled over me, I realized my wife and I had both been pulled into a secret that began long before we ever met.
