Chapter 3 - Going Home Without HimNia was discharged the following afternoon.
Marcus had expected to drive her home.
He had installed Noah’s car seat himself three weeks earlier, watching safety videos twice because Nia teased him about being obsessive. A blue hospital bag waited in the trunk. The nursery at their townhouse was ready.
Nia did not get into his car.
Tasha pulled her SUV to the hospital entrance.
Marcus stood on the sidewalk holding Noah’s diaper bag while a nurse wheeled Nia toward the curb.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Nia carefully shifted Noah in his carrier.
“I’m staying with Tasha.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus glanced toward his mother, who stood several feet away.
Denise had barely spoken since the revelation about the company tablet.
“Nia, you just gave birth. Home is set up for you.”
“Home is where you spent months investigating me without telling me.”
“That’s not fair.”
Tasha opened the rear passenger door.
Nia looked at Marcus.
“Fair?”
He lowered his voice.
“I was scared.”
“So was I. I still managed not to build a case against you.”
“I didn’t build a case.”
“You hid screenshots. You talked to your mother. You researched paternity testing.”
Marcus glanced at Denise.
Nia noticed.
Again.
Every time he was cornered, his eyes went to his mother before returning to his wife.
It had never bothered her before.
Now she could not stop seeing it.
“The lab can send someone tomorrow,” Marcus said. “It’s a cheek swab. They said results can come back within a few business days.”
Nia nodded.
“Fine.”
“You’re really doing this?”
“You asked.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I know.”
Marcus looked at Noah.
His face softened painfully.
“Can I hold him?”
Nia hesitated.
The hesitation hurt him more visibly than anything she had said.
Then she nodded.
“He’s your son until a piece of paper tells you otherwise, remember?”
Marcus flinched.
“Nia.”
She transferred Noah carefully into his arms.
Marcus stared down at the baby.
Noah yawned.
Marcus’s eyes filled.
“I love him.”
Nia looked away.
“You should’ve remembered that before you made love conditional on laboratory confirmation.”
“It wasn’t conditional.”
“Then why didn’t you sign?”
He had no answer.
Denise stepped forward.
“This separation is unnecessary.”
Tasha shut the car door harder than necessary.
“Nobody asked.”
Denise ignored her.
“Nia, going to your sister’s house will only make this more dramatic.”
Nia looked at her mother-in-law.
“Do you know what’s strange?”
Denise said nothing.
“I keep hearing people tell me I’m making things bigger. But I’m the only person who didn’t plan anything.”
Denise’s jaw tightened.
Nia continued.
“You and Marcus talked for months.”
“That is not what happened.”
“You carried a DNA brochure into my delivery room.”
“I picked it up because Marcus asked me to research reputable labs.”
“When?”
Denise paused.
“Last week.”
Marcus looked at her.
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
Everyone turned.
Marcus frowned.
“You gave me that lab’s number almost a month ago.”
Denise stared at him.
Tasha folded her arms.
Nia said nothing.
Marcus looked between the women.
“Mom?”
“I may be remembering the timing wrong.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“You don’t forget a month.”
Denise’s tone sharpened.
“I have been trying to support you through a situation nobody else understood.”
“You told Tasha last week.”
“I said I picked up the brochure last week.”
“No. You said you researched the lab last week.”
Denise exhaled.
“Marcus, don’t start twisting words because you feel guilty.”
That sentence changed his expression.
Nia recognized it.
The old pattern.
Denise redirecting.
Marcus retreating.
For years, Nia had told herself it was simply how mother and son communicated.
Now it looked different.
Marcus handed Noah back to her.
“I’ll call tonight.”
Nia secured the baby into the car seat.
“No.”
His face tightened.
“What?”
“Text first.”
“Nia.”
“I need quiet.”
“We need to talk.”
“We needed to talk four months ago.”
Tasha helped her into the SUV.
Marcus remained by the curb.
Before closing the door, Nia looked at Denise.
“The company tablet.”
Denise’s face remained composed.
“What about it?”
“When did you last use it?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You used it at the office all the time.”
“So did you.”
“Yes.”
Nia looked at Marcus.
“And so did he.”
Marcus frowned.
“What are you implying?”
“Nothing yet.”
Nia leaned back against the seat.
“I’m too tired to imply things.”
Tasha closed the door.
During the ride to her apartment, Nia barely spoke.
Noah slept beside her.
Twenty minutes later, Tasha stopped at a red light.
“Who were the messages to?”
Nia stared out the window.
“A forensic accountant named Adrian Lewis.”
Tasha blinked.
“Why were you talking to a forensic accountant?”
Nia closed her eyes.
“Because something was wrong at Walker Restoration.”
Marcus’s family company.
Tasha waited.
Nia’s voice became quiet.
“I found invoices that didn’t make sense.”
“How much?”
“At first?”
Nia looked at her sister.
“About forty thousand.”
“At first?”
“I kept looking.”
Tasha’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“How much did you find?”
“Eighty-six thousand four hundred dollars.”
Tasha stared ahead.
“Missing?”
“Moved.”
“By who?”
Nia looked down at Noah.
“I never got far enough to prove it.”
“That’s why you met Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“And the messages?”
“I was talking about the company.”
Tasha exhaled slowly.
“Does Marcus know any of this?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the week before I planned to tell him, Denise asked me why I was reviewing vendor records from eighteen months ago.”
Tasha turned toward her.
“What?”
“She knew.”
The traffic light changed.
Tasha did not move until someone honked.
Nia continued.
“She knew I was looking.”
“How?”
“I didn’t know.”
Nia looked out the rear window as the hospital disappeared behind them.
“Now I think I do.”
Tasha’s face hardened.
“The tablet.”
Nia nodded.
Then her phone buzzed.
A text from Marcus.
Mom says you’re accusing her of stealing from the company. Is that what this is really about?
Nia stared at the message.
Her blood went cold.
She had never told Marcus that.
Not once.
Tasha looked over.
“What?”
Nia turned the screen toward her.
Tasha read it.
Neither woman spoke.
Because only three people had known what Nia suspected.
Nia.
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Adrian.
And now, apparently, Denise.
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