Chapter 3
I called the bank before I let myself cry.
The woman on the line asked me three security questions. I answered two correctly. On the third, I hesitated.
“What street was your father born on?”
I had never set that question.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Those aren’t my security settings.”
The woman paused. Then she offered to lock online transfers from our joint account while she opened a fraud review.
“Please do that,” I said.
Marcus was still named on the account. She couldn’t promise the money would stay put forever, but the pending transfer stopped while they checked it. She gave me a case number, and I wrote it on the back of an old grocery receipt.
Serena sat across from me at the kitchen table.
The pastry Marcus had dropped was still by the front door. Neither of us moved to pick it up.
“I thought the money was his,” she said.
“What money?”
“He paid a deposit on an apartment last month. He said it came from selling his car.”
“His car is outside your building?”
She nodded slowly. “He told me he’d borrowed a replacement from work.”
I pressed my palms against my eyes.
“He has an answer for everything.”
“Until we’re in the same room.”
I called my older sister, Tasha. She answered on the second ring.
“Why do you sound like that?”
“Marcus has been seeing someone else.”
Tasha swore under her breath.
“I need you to come over,” I said. “There’s something happening with the house too.”
“I’m on my way.”
While we waited, Serena showed me the messages Marcus had sent about the apartment. I photographed them with my phone, including the dates. Then I sent copies to my email.
At the bottom of one conversation, Marcus had written, She’ll sign when I explain it the right way.
My throat tightened.
“What did he mean by that?” Serena asked.
“I think I almost found out.”
I took out the folder where we kept the house papers. The deed had both our names. We had bought the place four years earlier, after my mother helped us with part of the down payment.
I remembered Mom handing me the check.
“Make sure you can always open your own front door,” she’d said.
I’d laughed then. Marcus had hugged her. I had thought she was simply reminding us to build a secure life.
Now I wished I could ask what she had seen.
Mom had died the previous spring.
I put the deed back before I stained it with tears.
Tasha arrived twenty minutes later. She hugged me so hard my ribs hurt, then turned to Serena.
“Are you the woman?”
Serena stood. “Yes.”
Tasha looked at me. I nodded.
“She came here to find out the truth.”
“That took courage,” Tasha said, though it clearly cost her something to say it.
We showed her the messages and the bank transfer. She read without interrupting.
“You need a lawyer first thing tomorrow,” she said. “And send me copies of everything.”
A knock came at the front door.
All three of us froze.
“It could be Marcus,” Serena whispered.
I looked through the peephole.
His mother stood on the porch.
Denise had a spare key. I had forgotten until I saw her reaching into her purse.
I opened the door before she could use it.
“Nia. Marcus called me. He’s beside himself.”
“He can call a lawyer,” I said.
Denise blinked at the two women behind me. She recognized Serena at once.
“You came here?” she asked.
Serena’s face changed. “You know me?”
Denise pressed her lips together.
“You knew about them,” I said.
“I knew Marcus was unhappy.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She lowered her voice. “This isn’t something to discuss in front of a stranger.”
“I’m not a stranger to him,” Serena said.
Denise looked away.
Tasha came to stand beside me. “What did Marcus tell you about the house?”
Denise’s eyes widened.
“He said you two had agreed to move,” she said to me. “He said Nia wanted a fresh start.”
“You just spoke about me like I wasn’t standing here.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“Did you see the paperwork he wanted me to sign?”
Denise tightened her grip on her handbag.
“I saw a folder,” she said. “I don’t know what was in it.”
I wanted to believe her. Then she added, “It would have been easier if you’d listened to him when he first mentioned moving.”
“He never mentioned moving.”
Denise stared at me.
For a moment, she seemed honestly surprised.
Then her phone rang. Marcus’s name lit the screen. She silenced it.
“Please go,” I said.
“Nia, there are things you don’t understand.”
“That’s what your son said. Neither of you will tell me what they are.”
Denise opened her mouth, then shut it. She left without another word.
I took her spare key off my ring. Marcus had a key of his own, but I could at least stop Denise from walking in. Tasha promised to stay the night.
Serena was about to leave when her phone buzzed.
She read the message and held it out to me.
It was from Marcus.
Don’t tell Nia about the appraisal. I can fix everything if she signs tomorrow.
May you like
Below it was a second message.
And don’t tell her where the rest of the money went.
