Chapter 10 - Lauren’s Lie
Lauren denied it immediately.
“That wasn’t me.”
Nia was on speakerphone with Tessa present.
“The number was registered to you.”
“I had two phones.”
“That helps your argument how?” Tessa asked.
Lauren sounded panicked.
“The business phone stayed in our office.”
“Who had access?” Tessa asked.
“My assistant. Marcus sometimes. Anybody working a closing could pick it up.”
Nia closed her eyes.
Another ambiguity.
Another corridor of half-truth.
“Did you create the fake email?” Nia asked.
“No.”
“Did you send the acknowledgment?”
“No.”
“Did you know it was false?”
Lauren paused too long.
“Nia,” Tessa interrupted, “don’t answer for her.”
Lauren exhaled.
“I knew you hadn’t personally discussed it with me.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“No. I didn’t know it was fraudulent.”
Tessa ended the call after arranging for Lauren to preserve her records.
Nia stared at Marcus’s screenshot.
“Why would he send me this?”
“To shift responsibility,” Nia said.
Tessa leaned back.
“Maybe. Or because he believes the exchange matters.”
“He had the conversation.”
“Correct.”
“He knew someone was offering to ‘handle’ my approval.”
“Yes.”
“And he went forward.”
“That fact is significant regardless of who created the email.”
Nia looked out the window.
“Can I ask something that isn’t legal?”
Tessa smiled faintly.
“I can’t promise a good answer.”
“How does somebody become this comfortable lying?”
Tessa considered.
“Usually one successful lie at a time.”
That stayed with Nia.
One successful lie at a time.
Marcus had not woken up one morning capable of managing two businesses, an affair, a secret property acquisition and a hidden financial history.
He had practiced.
Small omissions.
Helpful explanations.
Temporary transfers.
A missing key.
By the time Lauren entered his bed, deception had already become infrastructure.
That afternoon Marcus appeared at Tessa’s office with his attorney, Daniel Pierce.
Nia had not expected to see him.
He looked thinner.
The formal setting changed him.
No doorway.
No shared bedroom.
No family history cushioning his face.
Just a man across a conference table.
Daniel began.
“My client wants to cooperate fully.”
Tessa replied, “Then complete disclosure will be helpful.”
Marcus looked directly at Nia.
“I didn’t sign the document.”
Nia said nothing.
“I didn’t create the Gmail account.”
Still nothing.
Daniel glanced at him.
Marcus continued anyway.
“I knew the lender wanted confirmation. Lauren said she would take care of it.”
Nia finally spoke.
“And when a document came back with my name, you asked no questions?”
Marcus swallowed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted the deal.”
There it was.
Simple.
Ugly.
True.
Tessa asked, “Did you believe Nia had authorized the document?”
“No.”
Daniel shifted.
“Marcus—”
“No,” Marcus repeated. “I knew she hadn’t.”
Nia felt strangely calm.
The confession was not explosive.
It was clarifying.
He had not forged her signature.
At least not by his account.
But he had seen a lie wearing her name and accepted its usefulness.
“Who do you think created it?” Tessa asked.
“Lauren.”
“Evidence?”
“The text.”
“Anything else?”
Marcus hesitated.
“She had access to my project files.”
Nia watched his face.
“What are you not saying?”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Daniel said, “Answer if you can do so accurately.”
Marcus rubbed his thumb across his palm.
“Lauren told me once that Denise was never going to let Westhaven fail.”
Nia frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You always know more than the first answer.”
Marcus looked ashamed.
“Mom had a side agreement with Lauren.”
The room changed.
Denise again.
“What agreement?”
“Lauren would defer half her commission and receive a small interest after refinancing.”
“An interest in Carter Ridge?”
“Yes.”
“How small?”
“Ten percent.”
Nia looked at Tessa.
“That wasn’t in the ownership chart.”
“No,” Tessa said.
Marcus explained.
“It was a private option agreement.”
“Did Denise sign it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Nia stared at him.
“So Lauren wasn’t just your mistress. She was going to become your mother’s business partner.”
Marcus looked away.
“And mine.”
The word dropped like glass.
Nia turned back.
“What?”
Marcus’s voice was barely audible.
“Lauren and I were planning to buy out Mom’s interest after the refinance.”
Nia felt the entire story rearrange itself.
Denise believed she was helping Marcus save the Carter family legacy.
Lauren believed she was building a future with Marcus.
Marcus was using Nia’s money and plans.
Nobody was protecting anybody.
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They were each protecting a different future.
And none of those futures included telling Nia the truth.
