Chapter 6 - Not the First Withdrawal
Marcus did not answer.
Jordan watched his father’s eyes move toward the house, calculating whether Alicia could hear through the storm door.
She could.
Jordan opened it.
“Come inside.”
Marcus frowned.
“You just said—”
“I changed my mind.”
Alicia stepped backward.
Marcus entered with the bank envelope still in one hand.
Nobody offered him a seat.
Jordan placed the printed account statements on the table.
Marcus saw them.
His shoulders dropped.
“Where did you get those?”
Alicia laughed softly.
“My name is on the account.”
“You had no reason to pull seven years of records.”
“I had eight thousand reasons.”
Marcus put the envelope down.
“I was going to restore everything.”
Jordan stared.
“Everything?”
Marcus rubbed a hand over his face.
“Some expenses came up.”
“Which expenses?”
“Family expenses.”
Alicia’s voice hardened.
“Whose family?”
Marcus looked at her.
“The roof was on my house.”
“That is not Jordan’s expense.”
“He stays there.”
Jordan spoke.
“I’ve slept there four times this year.”
Marcus ignored him.
“The roof had to be replaced.”
“With money Dad left for Jordan?”
“I was short temporarily.”
“You make six figures.”
Jordan looked at him.
Marcus’s eyes shifted.
Jordan caught it.
“You do still make six figures, right?”
“That’s irrelevant.”
“No, it’s not.”
Marcus sat finally.
“I had cash-flow issues.”
Alicia crossed her arms.
“What does that mean?”
“I had money tied up.”
“In what?”
Marcus looked toward Jordan.
“This is adult financial business.”
Jordan laughed.
“You made it my financial business.”
Marcus’s jaw clenched.
Alicia said, “Answer him.”
“I invested in a property.”
Jordan and Alicia both went quiet.
“What property?” Alicia asked.
Marcus hesitated.
“A duplex.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“With who?”
“Myself.”
Alicia’s expression sharpened.
“You bought investment property?”
“Yes.”
“How much did you put down?”
Marcus stood again.
“This interrogation is over.”
Jordan pushed the papers toward him.
“No.”
Marcus looked at his son.
Something shifted in the room.
For the first time, Jordan was not asking permission.
“How much?”
“Twenty-four thousand.”
“Where did it come from?”
“My savings.”
Jordan tapped the account statements.
“Was any of it mine?”
“No.”
Alicia said, “Show us.”
Marcus turned toward her.
“Excuse me?”
“Bank records.”
“I don’t have to show you anything.”
“No. But if we go back to family court over the settlement, you may have to show more than you want.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Jordan hated how satisfying that felt.
“What are you threatening?”
Alicia’s voice remained level.
“I’m informing you.”
Marcus looked at Jordan.
“This is exactly what I meant about your mother.”
Jordan stepped forward.
“No.”
Marcus stopped.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this into her.”
“It is her.”
“No. The money is mine.”
Marcus stared at him.
Jordan’s voice lowered.
“You took money Grandpa left for me, and your first instinct is still to blame Mom for finding out.”
Marcus opened his mouth.
Nothing came.
Jordan pointed toward the door.
“Go.”
“Jordan, I came here to fix this.”
“You came here with six thousand dollars because you thought six thousand dollars was what we knew about.”
Marcus went still.
Alicia’s eyes narrowed.
Jordan continued.
“You weren’t going to mention the other withdrawals.”
“I was.”
“When?”
“Jordan—”
“When?”
Marcus looked at the table.
“That’s what I thought.”
He picked up the envelope.
Jordan stopped him.
“Leave it.”
Marcus looked at him.
“I thought you didn’t want it.”
“I don’t want it like this.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The full account restored.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“That’s almost nine thousand.”
“Grandpa’s nine thousand.”
“Some of it paid for things you benefited from.”
“Name them.”
Marcus remained silent.
Jordan nodded.
“Restore all of it.”
“This is getting ridiculous.”
“No.”
Jordan stepped closer.
“This is the first time it’s getting clear.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
Keisha.
He declined it.
Jordan saw the name.
“So now you’re avoiding her too?”
“Stay out of my relationship.”
“You bought her son a car with my money. You dragged me into it.”
Marcus’s temper flashed.
“I said I will fix it!”
The room went silent.
No one shouted back.
Marcus seemed to hear himself.
His voice lowered.
“I made a mistake.”
Jordan looked at him.
“One?”
Marcus grabbed the envelope.
Before he reached the door, Alicia spoke.
“Marcus.”
He stopped.
“I’m requesting a full accounting of the fund in writing.”
He turned.
“Don’t make this uglier than it needs to be.”
Alicia’s face did not move.
“You said that the day you sold my car.”
Jordan looked between them.
Marcus’s eyes hardened.
“That’s what this is really about.”
“No.”
Alicia gestured toward Jordan.
“This is what it’s really about.”
Marcus left.
The front door closed.
Jordan stood in the silence.
Alicia sat slowly.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“Me neither.”
Jordan picked up the statements again.
One withdrawal caught his attention.
$1,200.
Eleven months earlier.
The memo field read:
LPM Holdings.
“Mom.”
Alicia leaned over.
“What’s LPM Holdings?”
She frowned.
“I don’t know.”
Jordan searched the name on his phone.
A state business registry result appeared.
Limited liability company.
Principal organizer:
Marcus L. Price.
Registered address:
His father’s house.
Jordan scrolled.
The company had been formed two years earlier.
Purpose: real-estate acquisition and management.
He looked at Alicia.
“Dad wasn’t investing personally.”
“What?”
“He formed a company.”
Jordan opened another result.
A county property record.
LPM Holdings LLC owned a duplex across town.
Purchase date: twenty-three months earlier.
Jordan enlarged the mortgage document summary.
Down payment information was not public.
But a lien appeared six months after purchase.
Then another.
Jordan’s stomach tightened.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Dad’s property has two loans against it.”
Alicia leaned closer.
Jordan scrolled.
Then he found something worse.
A notice of default filed twelve days earlier.
The duplex was behind on payments.
Jordan whispered, “He didn’t take my money because he was short one time.”
Alicia stared at the screen.
Jordan finally understood why Marcus had been so desperate to impress Keisha.
Why the house remained polished.
Why the gold watch never came off.
Why generosity had needed an audience.
His father was not simply choosing where to spend money.
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He was protecting an image.
And somewhere inside that image, Jordan had become the easiest person to disappoint.
