Chapter 2 - Four Months of Silence
Nia did not put the suitcase down.
“What does ‘more’ mean?”
Denise glanced at Marcus.
Marcus shook his head once.
That tiny motion told Nia everything she needed to know.
Whatever came next, Marcus did not want his mother saying it.
“Mom,” he warned.
Nia laughed bitterly.
“Now you want silence?”
Denise pressed her fingers together.
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“You passed that exit four months ago.”
“Nia—”
“Say it.”
Marcus stepped between them.
“Not tonight.”
Nia stared at him.
“You don’t get to schedule my truth.”
The words landed hard enough that Marcus moved aside.
Denise inhaled.
“The nights Marcus told you he was staying with me…”
Nia’s stomach tightened.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Denise continued.
“He wasn’t always with me.”
Nia remembered February.
Denise had supposedly been suffering dizzy spells after a medication change.
Marcus had spent three nights at his mother’s house because, according to him, Denise was afraid to be alone.
Nia had packed food for both of them.
Chicken soup.
Cornbread.
Fresh fruit.
She had kissed Marcus at the front door and told him he was a good son.
“You covered for him.”
Denise’s tears finally fell.
“I told myself it was temporary.”
“You covered for him.”
“I thought if I gave him time to end it quietly—”
Nia recoiled.
“Quietly?”
Marcus cut in.
“Mom was trying to protect everybody.”
Nia turned.
“Everybody?”
“Yes.”
“Name them.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“Name everybody you were protecting.”
“Nia.”
“Were you protecting me?”
He said nothing.
“Were you protecting the woman you were sleeping with?”
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Were you protecting your mother’s reputation?”
Denise whispered, “This isn’t about my reputation.”
Nia stared at her.
“You lied about being sick so your son could spend nights with another woman.”
“I actually was having trouble with my medication.”
“And was he at your house?”
Denise’s silence returned.
Nia nodded slowly.
“That’s what I thought.”
She walked out.
Marcus followed her through the hallway.
“Nia, don’t drive like this.”
She stopped at the top of the stairs.
“You don’t get to tell me what’s safe anymore.”
“I’m worried about you.”
“You should have worried about me while you were exposing me to another person without my knowledge.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Nia saw immediately that the point landed.
She continued downstairs.
“Nia.”
She turned near the front door.
“Who is she?”
Marcus looked past her.
“Lauren Bennett.”
The name meant nothing at first.
Then it did.
Nia’s fingers tightened around her suitcase.
“The realtor?”
Marcus did not answer.
Nia felt sick.
Lauren Bennett had worked with Marcus on commercial property deals.
Nia had met her twice.
Once at a restaurant.
Once at Denise’s home.
Lauren had complimented Nia’s earrings.
“You brought her around me.”
“It wasn’t happening then.”
“When did it start?”
“December.”
Nia mentally calculated.
The restaurant dinner had been January.
Lauren had sat across from her while Marcus touched Nia’s knee under the table.
Nia opened the front door.
Marcus reached toward the suitcase.
“Let me carry that.”
“Touch my bag and I swear I will lose every ounce of restraint I have left.”
He stopped.
Outside, Atlanta’s late-night air was cool.
Nia loaded the suitcase into her car.
Marcus stood on the porch.
Denise remained inside.
“Nia,” Marcus called.
She turned.
He looked wrecked.
For one dangerous second, she remembered loving him.
Not the abstract version.
The actual man.
The one who sang badly while making pancakes.
The one who once slept upright beside her in an emergency-room chair when she had pneumonia.
The one who held her father’s hand while he was dying.
That memory hurt worse than the affair.
Because monsters were easy to leave.
People you had loved were not.
“What?” she asked.
Marcus rubbed both hands over his face.
“I never stopped loving you.”
Nia looked at him for a long time.
“That almost makes it worse.”
She got into her car.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into the driveway of her best friend Imani Walker.
Imani opened the door before Nia could knock.
No makeup.
Head scarf.
Oversized college sweatshirt.
One look at Nia’s face and she stepped aside.
“Guest room is yours.”
Nia entered.
Imani locked the door.
“What happened?”
Nia set her suitcase down.
“He cheated.”
Imani closed her eyes.
“Damn.”
“Six months.”
Imani reached for her.
Nia held up a hand.
“If you hug me, I’m going to fall apart.”
“Then fall apart.”
That did it.
Nia folded into her friend’s arms.
She cried until her chest hurt.
When she finally stopped, Imani handed her tissues.
“There’s more,” Nia whispered.
Imani sat beside her.
“His mother knew.”
Imani stared.
“For how long?”
“Four months.”
“What?”
“She covered for him.”
Imani’s expression hardened.
“Nia…”
“She lied about him staying with her.”
Imani went silent.
Then her eyes narrowed.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Imani stood.
“That weekend in February. You canceled our Savannah trip because Marcus said Denise needed him.”
Nia nodded.
“You said something else that weekend.”
Nia tried to remember.
Imani picked up Nia’s phone.
“You told me Marcus moved money because of an investment closing.”
Nia’s stomach tightened.
“What money?”
“You said seventy thousand dollars disappeared from your joint savings for three days and he told you it was an escrow timing issue.”
Nia stared at her.
She had forgotten.
Not forgotten exactly.
Trusted.
Marcus had explained it so confidently that the incident had vanished beneath ordinary life.
Nia grabbed the phone.
She opened her banking app.
The old transaction history loaded.
February 17.
$68,400.
TRANSFER OUT.
Recipient:
CARTER RIDGE HOLDINGS LLC.
Nia had never heard that name before.
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And this time, the betrayal did not feel like heartbreak.
It felt like evidence.
