Chapter 2
I stared at the photograph until Vanessa lowered her hand.
Marcus had bought a house.
Not a rented apartment.
Not a hotel room.
A beautiful two-story house with a white porch and tall windows.
A house he had apparently promised to another woman.
While I was home wondering whether I could afford another box of diapers.
"How much?" I asked.
Marcus looked confused.
"Nia, what?"
"How much did that house cost?"
He looked toward Vanessa.
She answered before he could stop her.
"Four hundred and twenty thousand dollars."
The number hit me like a physical blow.
I gripped the stroller handle.
Four hundred and twenty thousand.
Three months earlier, Marcus had called me from the ship and said our finances were tight.
He'd asked me to stop ordering groceries for delivery.
He'd told me to cancel the babies' swimming classes.
He'd even suggested I sell the necklace my late grandmother left me.
All because he said we needed to save money.
I looked straight at him.
"You told me we were struggling."
His jaw tightened.
"We are."
Vanessa shook her head.
"Marcus, you told me you paid cash for most of the house."
My stomach dropped.
"Cash?"
He turned on her.
"Would you please stop talking?"
Vanessa recoiled.
I had never heard him speak to another woman like that.
For years, he'd saved his anger for private conversations with me.
Now his carefully controlled image was falling apart in public.
Naomi started crying harder.
I unfastened the stroller bag and reached for her pacifier.
My hands were shaking so badly that I dropped it.
Marcus bent down.
"I'll get it."
"Stay away."
He froze.
I retrieved a clean pacifier from the bag and comforted my daughter.
Noah stirred against my chest.
Two innocent babies.
Two little lives depending on me.
I couldn't collapse.
Not here.
Not now.
Vanessa stepped closer, keeping a respectful distance.
"Nia, I swear I didn't know."
I looked at her.
"How long have you been together?"
She swallowed.
"Eight months."
Eight months.
I felt the pavement shift beneath me.
My twins were six months old.
Which meant Marcus had started seeing Vanessa while I was heavily pregnant.
I remembered those final weeks.
My swollen feet.
My aching back.
The nights I couldn't sleep.
Marcus telling me he needed to spend extra time aboard the ship preparing for promotion.
I had believed him.
"Eight months?" I whispered.
Vanessa nodded.
"He told me he had been divorced for years."
I laughed bitterly.
"We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary nine months ago."
She covered her mouth.
Marcus stepped between us.
"Enough. Both of you."
I stared at him.
"Don't you dare tell me enough."
He lowered his voice.
"You're making a scene."
Something inside me hardened.
"You made the scene when you betrayed your family."
A security officer approached.
"Ma'am, is everything all right?"
I forced myself to breathe.
"Yes. We're leaving."
Marcus reached toward the stroller.
"Let me help."
I pulled it away.
"No."
He looked around.
"Nia, people are staring."
"Then give them something worth seeing. Tell the truth."
He said nothing.
I took one final look at Vanessa.
"Please send me copies of those documents."
Marcus immediately shook his head.
"Absolutely not."
Vanessa stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because this is private."
I answered for her.
"Because he's afraid of what I'll find."
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
"Give me your number."
I told her.
Marcus looked furious.
But he didn't stop us.
A moment later, my phone vibrated.
The photograph appeared.
Then the first page of the property paperwork.
I saved both.
"Thank you," I whispered.
Vanessa nodded.
"I'm so sorry."
I believed that she hadn't known.
Her reaction was too raw.
But believing her didn't make the pain any smaller.
I turned the stroller toward the parking garage.
Marcus followed.
"Nia, please don't leave like this."
I kept walking.
"We'll talk later."
"When?"
"Through a conversation where you finally tell the truth."
He grabbed the handle of my suitcase.
I stopped.
"Let go."
He hesitated.
Then released it.
As I reached the elevator, he called after me.
"Nia, you don't understand what you're doing."
I turned.
"No, Marcus. For the first time, I think I do."
The elevator doors closed between us.
Only then did I start crying.
I pressed one hand over my mouth so I wouldn't frighten the babies.
I had come to the port expecting a reunion.
Instead, I was leaving with two children and the ruins of my marriage.
By the time I reached my car, my phone was ringing.
Marcus.
I ignored it.
He called again.
Then again.
I placed the twins safely into their car seats, folded the stroller, and sat behind the wheel.
Another message appeared.
Don't do anything stupid. We can fix this.
I stared at the words.
He'd betrayed me.
Lied to another woman.
Hidden an expensive property.
And somehow, he still believed he could command me.
I called my older sister, Simone.
She answered immediately.
"Hey, girl! Did Marcus love the surprise?"
I tried to speak.
Nothing came out.
"Nia?"
My throat tightened.
"Simone, I need you."
Her voice changed.
"What happened?"
"I found him."
"Okay?"
"With another woman."
Silence.
Then she asked, "Where are you?"
I told her.
"Are the babies safe?"
"Yes."
"Are you safe?"
I nodded before remembering she couldn't see me.
"Yes."
"Come straight to my house."
I wiped my cheeks.
"I don't know what to do."
"You don't have to figure everything out today."
I closed my eyes.
"I think he's been stealing from us."
Simone went quiet.
"What?"
I looked at the photograph on my phone.
The white house.
The keys.
The man I thought I knew.
"He bought another woman a house."
My sister inhaled sharply.
Then she said, "Bring every document you have. We're going to find out what's happening."
I started the engine.
Before leaving the garage, another message arrived.
This time, it wasn't from Marcus.
It was from Vanessa.
Nia, I found another document in his things.
I opened the message.
Attached was a photograph of a bank transfer authorization.
The account number looked familiar.
Too familiar.
It was the savings account my grandmother had helped me open before she died.
The account I'd been building for Noah and Naomi.
I stared at the screen.
Then read Vanessa's next message.
Marcus told me this money belonged to him.
My breath caught.
May you like
Because the amount transferred was $68,000.
And I had never authorized anyone to touch it.
