Chapter 24 - Nia’s SecretThree weeks after Noah’s birth, Nia asked Marcus to meet without the baby.
Tasha watched Noah.
They chose a quiet park.
Marcus arrived early.
Nia noticed.
Once, he had believed punctuality counted as evidence of reliability.
Now neither of them confused small virtues with trust.
They sat on opposite ends of a bench.
“I need to tell you something,” Nia said.
Marcus’s shoulders tightened.
“Okay.”
“I was planning to leave Walker Restoration.”
He looked surprised.
“Before all this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After maternity leave.”
Marcus absorbed it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid you’d hear it as rejecting your family.”
“That’s probably exactly how I would’ve heard it.”
“I know.”
Marcus looked down.
“What were you going to do?”
“Start a bookkeeping and compliance consulting business.”
“With Adrian?”
“No.”
“Tasha?”
“Maybe.”
She smiled faintly.
“Tasha didn’t know.”
Marcus raised his brows.
“She’s going to kill you.”
“She knows now.”
“Then I’m safe.”
Nia’s smile disappeared.
“There’s more.”
Marcus waited.
“I had saved twelve thousand dollars.”
His expression changed.
“Where?”
“An account in my name.”
“When did you open it?”
“A year ago.”
Marcus stared.
Nia continued before he could speak.
“It was my salary after taxes. Nothing from joint accounts.”
“Why separate?”
“Security.”
The word hung painfully.
Marcus looked away.
Nia said, “You can be angry.”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s fair.”
He rubbed his hands together.
“Were you planning to leave me?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Never?”
“I thought about it after arguments with your mother.”
Marcus winced.
“But no. The account was for business expenses and emergency savings.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nia took a breath.
“Because you told Denise everything.”
He closed his eyes.
She continued.
“That sounds cruel.”
“It sounds true.”
“I knew if I said I wanted my own business, she’d call it disloyal. You’d feel caught between us. I didn’t want permission.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“I’m trying to figure out whether I’m hurt.”
“You should.”
He looked at her.
Nia’s voice softened.
“I criticized you for creating a secret financial exit.”
“You weren’t planning an exit from the marriage.”
“No.”
“But you created a private safety net because you didn’t trust how I’d respond.”
“Yes.”
Marcus sat with it.
Then said, “I hate that.”
“I know.”
“Not because you saved.”
“I know.”
“Because you didn’t feel safe telling me.”
Nia’s eyes filled.
“That’s the difference between us.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“When I found out about your secret plans, I felt betrayed because you were preparing against me.”
She looked at him.
“When you found out about mine, your first feeling is grief that I couldn’t trust you.”
Marcus nodded.
“I’m learning.”
Nia laughed softly.
“Slowly.”
“Painfully.”
They sat in silence.
Then Marcus asked, “Are you still starting the business?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Nia looked at him.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
He paused.
“I want to invest.”
“No.”
He almost laughed.
“Okay.”
“I need it to be mine.”
“I understand.”
“And I don’t want Denise anywhere near it.”
“That part I definitely understand.”
Nia looked toward the trees.
“I’m calling it Clearline Books.”
Marcus smiled.
“That’s good.”
“Tasha hated ‘Nia Knows Numbers.’”
“She saved you.”
Nia laughed.
Again, the sound hurt him beautifully.
The conversation became harder after that.
Nia admitted she had checked apartment listings during pregnancy.
Not because she planned to leave immediately.
Because Denise’s intrusion into their life had become unbearable.
Marcus admitted he had complained about Nia to Denise in detail after marital arguments.
Nia closed her eyes.
“How detailed?”
“Too detailed.”
“Sex?”
“No.”
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“What I said when I was angry?”
“Yes.”
Nia’s face tightened.
Marcus whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“That made your mother part of our marriage.”
“I know.”
“And when she weaponized what you gave her, you acted surprised.”
“Yes.”
Nia stood and walked several feet away.
Marcus remained seated.
After a while she returned.
“I need separation.”
He nodded before she finished.
“Okay.”
Nia looked surprised.
“I mean formal separation.”
“I understand.”
“I’m staying with Tasha for now, but I’ll find somewhere.”
“The townhouse is yours if you want it.”
“No.”
“Nia.”
“I don’t want you giving me things out of guilt.”
“It’s our house.”
“Then we figure it out properly.”
Marcus nodded.
“What about Noah?”
“We create a schedule appropriate for a newborn.”
“I want to see him every day.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“But my recovery and breastfeeding matter too.”
“Okay.”
No argument.
Nia looked at him.
“I’m not keeping him from you.”
“I know.”
“Your mother does not get unsupervised access.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Agreed.”
“She doesn’t use him as a message to me.”
“Agreed.”
“She doesn’t post photos.”
“Agreed.”
Nia stared.
“This is weird.”
“What?”
“You agreeing.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“My therapist says I confuse disagreement with independence.”
“That sounds expensive.”
“One hundred seventy-five dollars an hour.”
Nia laughed.
“Worth it.”
He smiled.
Then they became serious again.
Marcus looked at her.
“Is separation the first step toward divorce?”
Nia answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
“No pressure?”
“No.”
“Can I hope?”
Nia looked away.
“You can feel whatever you feel.”
Marcus accepted the distinction.
That evening, he returned to the townhouse alone.
On the kitchen table sat the framed ultrasound photograph Denise had given them.
He picked it up.
Behind the frame was a folded receipt.
He frowned.
A print-shop receipt.
Four months old.
Order description:
3 PHOTO CROPS — MOBILE SCREENSHOTS.
Customer:
Denise Walker.
Marcus sat down.
They already had the digital evidence.
The receipt changed nothing legally.
Emotionally, it did.
His mother had physically gone somewhere to perfect the cropped screenshots before sending them.
This had not been one impulsive click.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
She had prepared.
And suddenly Marcus wondered what other parts of the manipulation had required rehearsal.
Related Stories
