Chapter 2
Marcus opened the door smiling.
He had his work bag over one shoulder and a paper bag from the bakery in his hand.
“Hey, baby. I got your favorite—”
He saw Serena.
The bag slipped. A pastry rolled across the floor and stopped against my shoe.
For one second, he looked at her with a softness I recognized. Then he looked at me, and fear took its place.
“Nia,” he said. “I can explain.”
Serena gave a short, hurt laugh.
“That’s what you said you’d do tonight,” she told him. “Explain to your wife that we’re getting married.”
I turned to him.
“Married?”
Marcus shut the door carefully, as though keeping his voice low could make this a small problem.
“Serena, that wasn’t what I said.”
“You asked me to look at rings.”
“I said we could talk about the future.”
I felt my stomach drop. Even with both of us in front of him, he was still trying to change the words.
“Put your bag down,” I said.
“Nia, she came here without telling me. She’s upset.”
“I can see that.”
“She’s been under a lot of stress.”
Serena stepped forward. “Don’t do this.”
Marcus raised a hand toward her. “Let me handle it.”
I had seen him use that gesture with a waiter once. He had smiled while telling the man he’d brought the wrong order. I had mistaken his calm voice for kindness.
“Don’t talk about her as if she isn’t here,” I said.
Marcus looked at me. “I made a mistake.”
“Six months is a lot of mistakes.”
He pulled a breath through his teeth. “Our marriage hasn’t been right in a long time.”
“That’s news to me.”
“We’ve both felt it.”
“I told you I loved you this morning.”
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
Serena’s voice came out thin. “You told me she wanted the divorce kept private.”
Marcus turned sharply. “I never said it like that.”
She held up her phone. “I have the messages.”
I had my camera running in my hand. Marcus noticed it then.
“Are you recording me?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his face. “Can we please act like adults?”
“We are,” I said. “For the first time tonight, everyone in this room knows the truth.”
He looked from me to Serena.
“It got complicated,” he said.
I thought he meant the affair. Then Serena spoke.
“You told me Nia wanted to sell the house.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You showed me a floor plan for the apartment you said we could buy afterward.”
Marcus’s eyes flashed toward me.
That was enough to tell me he had shown her something real.
“Why would selling this house have anything to do with her?” I asked.
“It doesn’t. We were talking. People talk about things.”
I went to the desk in the corner of the living room. Three days earlier, Marcus had left a folder there for me to sign.
He’d told me it was a routine change to our homeowner’s insurance. I had been too tired to read it. I remembered promising to do it over the weekend.
The folder was gone.
“Where’s the insurance paperwork?” I asked.
Marcus set his bag on a chair. “What paperwork?”
“The folder you left for me.”
“Oh. At the office.”
“Bring it back tomorrow.”
His jaw worked. “Fine.”
Serena stared at him. “You told me the sale would be done by the end of the month.”
Silence filled the room.
Marcus turned on her. “You’re confusing two conversations.”
She took a step back, but her voice held.
“No. I asked you how you could sell a house while Nia still lived in it. You said she’d already agreed.”
I had not agreed to sell our home. I had not even considered it.
Marcus took a step toward me. “Nia, please. We should talk without an audience.”
“Serena’s been listening to lies about my life for six months. She can hear this.”
“You don’t understand the pressure I’ve been under.”
“What pressure?”
He stopped.
The answer stayed on his face long enough to frighten me.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I didn’t do anything to you.”
It was the wrong answer.
I walked to the front door and opened it.
“Leave.”
“Nia—”
“Take your bag and leave.”
“This is my house too.”
“We can discuss that with someone who understands the law. Tonight, you’re leaving.”
Marcus looked at Serena, searching for help. She stood by the stairs, holding her phone close to her chest.
“I believed you,” she said. “That’s all I did.”
For a moment he looked ashamed. Then his face hardened.
“You’re going to regret turning this into a spectacle.”
My pulse jumped. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact. You don’t know everything that’s going on.”
“Then tell us.”
He picked up his bag. He didn’t answer.
I stayed at the open door until he reached his car. Only after he drove away did I close it.
Serena sank onto the couch. Her whole body was shaking.
I sat at the desk and opened our shared bank account on my laptop. My hands were so cold I could barely type.
There was a pending transfer for eighteen thousand dollars.
I stared at the destination account. I didn’t recognize it.
Then I saw the note attached to an earlier payment.
House closing expenses.
May you like
I looked at the date.
Marcus had sent that payment the morning after my birthday.
