Chapter 3
Evelyn sat down so suddenly that the chair scraped across the floor.
I stared at her.
“What did you do?”
She shook her head.
“Nia, please.”
“What did you do?”
Marcus stepped in front of her.
“Don’t interrogate my mother.”
I laughed.
I could not help it.
The sound came out sharp and bitter.
“Your mother’s name is connected to money missing from your workplace, but I’m the problem for asking questions?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“That sentence should be printed on our wedding certificate.”
Marcus flinched.
I lifted his phone again.
“Darren, tell me exactly what happened.”
Marcus reached for it.
I pointed toward the front door.
“Touch me again and I call the police myself.”
He stopped.
For once, he believed me.
Darren spoke quietly.
“The dealership changed accounting systems about eight months ago. Marcus had access to customer refunds and vendor reimbursements.”
I felt cold.
“He began moving small amounts first.”
Marcus yelled, “Shut up, Darren!”
Darren continued.
“Then the amounts got bigger.”
“How much went to Evelyn?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Marcus began pacing.
I watched him.
This was no longer the furious man who had slammed a pot beside me.
This was a trapped man calculating his exits.
“Why her?” I asked.
Darren hesitated.
“Some of the payments were marked as consulting expenses.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“Consulting?”
Her face crumpled.
“I didn’t know where it came from.”
Marcus spun around.
“Mom.”
“No!”
She stood.
“You told me it was legitimate.”
“Stop talking.”
“You said the company owed you commissions.”
I stared at her.
“How much did he give you?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
“Maybe twenty thousand.”
My stomach dropped.
Twenty thousand dollars.
I thought about every utility bill I had quietly paid for her.
Every time she had called Marcus saying she was struggling.
Every time Marcus had told me his mother was almost broke.
“You took twenty thousand dollars from him while I was paying your debts?”
Evelyn began crying again.
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
She said nothing.
That was my answer.
Darren cleared his throat.
“Nia, I need to go.”
“Wait.”
I looked at Marcus.
“Was the seven thousand from our account part of this?”
Marcus stared at the floor.
I did not need words.
“Oh my God.”
I covered my mouth.
He had taken money from his employer.
Then taken money from us.
Why?
To hide the first theft?
To cover losses?
I suddenly remembered Evelyn’s word.
Investment.
“What did you invest in?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Nothing.”
Evelyn whispered, “Marcus.”
He turned on her.
“Don’t.”
She wiped her face.
“You said if I gave you the money back, you could fix it.”
My pulse hammered.
“What money?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“There was a business.”
“What business?”
“A restaurant franchise.”
Marcus cursed under his breath.
Evelyn continued.
“He said one of his customers had an opportunity.”
I stared at Marcus.
“You invested stolen money?”
“I didn’t know it was stolen,” Evelyn said quickly.
I ignored her.
Marcus finally looked at me.
“It was supposed to triple.”
I almost could not process the stupidity of that sentence.
“You stole from your employer to invest in a restaurant?”
“It wasn’t a restaurant.”
“You just said—”
“It was a development group.”
Evelyn whispered, “You told me restaurant.”
Marcus glared at her.
That was when I understood.
He had been lying to both of us.
Maybe in different ways.
Maybe about everything.
“What happened to the money?” I asked.
Marcus rubbed his face.
“The deal went bad.”
“How bad?”
“It’s gone.”
Evelyn let out a sob.
I closed my eyes.
Sixty thousand dollars.
Gone.
Possibly more.
Our seven thousand gone.
And somehow this man had walked into the kitchen that evening and told me I contributed nothing.
Something inside me finally broke.
Not in the way Marcus expected.
I did not collapse.
I did not scream.
I became completely calm.
I ended the call with Darren.
Then I picked up my own phone.
Marcus noticed.
“Who are you calling?”
“My attorney.”
“At this hour?”
“She told me to call if anything changed.”
He laughed nervously.
“Nothing changed.”
I stared at him.
“I just discovered my husband may be under criminal investigation.”
“It’s not criminal yet.”
Evelyn whispered, “Marcus, please stop talking.”
For the first time all night, she was right.
My attorney, Rachel Greene, answered on the fourth ring.
“Nia?”
“Something happened.”
“What?”
I looked at Marcus.
“Marcus may have taken money from his employer.”
Silence.
“How much?”
“Over sixty thousand.”
Rachel’s tone changed immediately.
“Do not sign anything.”
“I won’t.”
“Do not move money for him.”
“I won’t.”
“Do you have joint accounts?”
“One checking account and one savings account.”
“Log in now if you can. Save statements.”
Marcus stepped toward me.
“You’re not freezing anything.”
Rachel heard him.
“Nia, are you safe?”
The question landed hard.
I looked at Marcus.
He looked furious.
Evelyn stood behind him crying.
Was I safe?
I had spent years avoiding that question because I did not like the answer.
“I think so.”
Rachel responded immediately.
“That is not good enough.”
Marcus rolled his eyes.
“She’s trying to scare you.”
Rachel continued.
“If Marcus is agitated, leave or have someone come over.”
“This is my house.”
“Then ask him to leave.”
I looked at the torn legal notice on the floor.
“I already did.”
“Did he refuse?”
Marcus answered for me.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Rachel paused.
Then she said, “Call the police if you feel threatened.”
Marcus laughed.
“No one threatened her.”
I turned away from him.
“Rachel, could his employer come after the house?”
Marcus stopped laughing.
“No,” Rachel said carefully. “Not automatically. Especially if the property is separately titled and purchased with traceable separate funds. But we need to review everything immediately.”
I exhaled.
Marcus stared at me.
For years he had treated my grandmother’s inheritance like an inconvenience because he could not control it.
Now that inheritance might be the wall standing between me and his disaster.
Rachel said, “Secure all financial records tonight.”
“I will.”
“And Nia?”
“Yes?”
“Change every password he might know.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
I ended the call.
For the next twenty minutes, I sat at the dining table changing passwords.
Bank accounts.
Email.
Payroll.
Cloud storage.
Marcus paced behind me.
Evelyn packed nothing.
She simply watched.
Then a notification appeared on my banking app.
A transfer request.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
From our home equity line.
I stared at the screen.
My heart stopped.
We had never opened a home equity line.
I looked at Marcus.
“What is this?”
He went completely still.
I turned the screen toward him.
His face answered before his mouth did.
I stood.
“You tried to borrow against my house?”
“Nia—”
“My house?”
“It was temporary.”
“You forged my signature?”
Evelyn gasped.
Marcus looked toward the door.
May you like
And in that moment, I realized the missing money was not the worst thing he had done.
Not even close.
