Chapter 14 - The Flash Drive
Malik called Tanya immediately.
“Don’t touch anything in my room.”
“What happened?”
“Raymond sent a picture.”
He forwarded it.
Tanya stared at the flash drive.
“That isn’t mine.”
“Mine either.”
Yvette took the phone.
“Could be bait.”
Malik nodded.
Raymond wanted them searching.
Wanted control of the next move.
Tanya said, “He still has a key.”
“To the new lock?”
“Yes.”
“Change it again,” Yvette said.
Tanya did.
This time she used a locksmith she called herself.
Raymond’s remaining belongings were boxed carefully and photographed.
Yvette insisted they avoid destroying, withholding, or discarding anything.
“He may be manipulative,” she said, “but we don’t respond by creating a legitimate dispute.”
Malik watched his aunt work.
Even after learning she had hidden Gloria’s fund, he trusted her judgment more because she had admitted where she was wrong.
That difference mattered.
They entered Malik’s bedroom together.
The flash drive sat exactly where the photograph showed it.
Malik picked it up using a tissue.
Tanya gave him a look.
“You think it has fingerprints?”
“No.”
“Then why—”
“I don’t know. It feels like something people do on television.”
Yvette almost laughed.
The tension broke for one second.
They plugged the drive into an old laptop disconnected from personal accounts.
The folders were ordinary at first.
Business plans.
Equipment prices.
Logo designs for COLE PREMIER AUTO.
Then Malik found spreadsheets.
HOUSE CASH FLOW
He opened one.
Rows of expenses appeared.
Mortgage.
Utilities.
Tanya’s salary.
Malik rent.
Raymond contribution.
In Raymond’s column, several numbers were listed.
Malik stared.
“These aren’t real.”
Tanya leaned closer.
“What?”
The spreadsheet showed Raymond contributing $900 monthly.
“That never happened.”
Yvette scrolled.
“This may have been for a lender.”
Another file contained a draft business loan package.
The household income section included Tanya’s earnings.
Malik’s rent appeared as recurring household income.
Raymond’s employment income was listed at $4,200 monthly.
Tanya whispered, “He wasn’t even working.”
Malik looked at the dates.
The document had been created three weeks earlier.
Seven months after Raymond lost his job.
“That’s false.”
“Yes,” Yvette said. “But it’s a draft. We don’t know whether he submitted it.”
Tanya covered her face.
“He wanted me to sign.”
“What exactly?”
“The loan package.”
“Did you?”
“Some preliminary pages.”
Yvette sat straighter.
“Which pages?”
“I don’t remember.”
They searched the drive.
One scanned document appeared.
Tanya’s signature.
Consent to verify financial information.
Another.
Authorization related to business financing.
Nothing they saw alone transferred property.
Nothing appeared to be a completed loan agreement.
Still, Tanya’s hands shook.
“I signed without reading.”
Malik said nothing.
Tanya looked at him.
“I know.”
He replied quietly.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
This time, the phrase carried no accusation.
Only recognition.
Yvette found another folder.
M INVESTMENT
Inside was a spreadsheet labeled:
MALIK CONTRIBUTION PROJECTION
Month 1–12: $500.
Month 13–24: $550.
Month 25–36: $600.
Malik stared.
“He planned increases.”
Tanya whispered, “I never agreed to that.”
“But he expected it.”
The spreadsheet calculated three years of payments.
Total:
$19,800.
Raymond had treated Malik’s presence as revenue.
Not family support.
Revenue.
Malik felt physically sick.
“He built me into the business plan.”
Yvette studied the formulas.
“Indirectly. Looks like he wanted Tanya’s household cash flow to support the equity loan payments.”
Tanya began shaking her head.
“No.”
Malik looked at her.
“You told him you could increase my rent.”
“To five hundred. Once.”
“That was enough.”
Tanya stared at the spreadsheet.
Raymond had extended one weak sentence into three years of someone else’s labor.
Her shame turned into anger.
Not performative anger.
Clear anger.
“I’m calling the lender.”
Yvette nodded.
“Tell them you withdraw any application and do not authorize further processing. Ask what documents they received.”
Tanya called.
The conversation took twenty minutes.
When she finished, she looked exhausted but relieved.
“No loan was approved.”
Malik exhaled.
“They had an inquiry and preliminary application. They were still waiting on property verification and final signatures.”
“Good.”
“I told them to close it.”
“Get confirmation in writing,” Yvette said.
Tanya did.
One threat ended.
But Malik kept looking at the flash drive.
“Why leave this in my room?”
Yvette frowned.
“He wanted us to find it.”
“Why?”
No one knew.
Then Malik opened the file properties.
Many documents were copies.
But one had been created the night after their first confrontation.
Its name:
IF TANYA BACKS OUT
Inside was a short memo Raymond had apparently written for himself.
Three lines.
Remind her Yvette hid inheritance.
Remind her Malik can leave anytime.
Remind her house value only matters if she uses it.
Tanya read the final line.
Then whispered, “He wasn’t hiding the drive.”
Yvette looked at her.
“No.”
“He was leaving me instructions.”
Malik shook his head.
“Not instructions.”
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He looked toward the changed lock.
“A threat.”
