Chapter 8 - What Nia Was OwedNia drove west.
Marcus drove.
Neither spoke for the first hour.
The copy of Victor’s letter sat between them.
“You broke into the house?”
Marcus kept his eyes on the interstate.
“I used the old service code.”
“You told me we were getting clothes.”
“You needed to know what Victor wrote.”
“You could have gotten us caught.”
“We’re already caught.”
Nia stared through the windshield.
Snow covered the foothills.
Her father’s words repeated in her mind.
I trusted Nia with more of my business, more of my problems and more of my failures than I ever trusted you with. That may have been the first injustice.
She hated him for finally understanding after death.
She hated herself because she had wanted those words her entire life.
Marcus tapped the page.
“He makes me the villain.”
“You stole money.”
“I moved money.”
“Eight-point-seven million dollars.”
“For transactions Victor ordered.”
“He says otherwise.”
“He’s dead. Convenient witness.”
Nia turned toward him.
“Did you use my approvals?”
Marcus’s hands tightened around the wheel.
“You knew what you signed.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You trusted me.”
A coldness moved through her.
“That’s still not an answer.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Yes.”
The word was quiet.
Nia stared.
“What?”
“I used your authorization credentials on some transfers.”
“How many?”
“Does it matter?”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Nia felt the world tilt.
“You told me Dad framed you.”
“Victor used both of us.”
“You said the money was for political consulting.”
“Some of it was.”
“And the rest?”
Marcus did not answer.
Nia slapped the dashboard.
“The rest?”
“Investments.”
“Your investments?”
“Our future.”
Nia laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Our future.”
“You were never going to get control while Ethan lived.”
“So you needed Ethan dead too.”
Marcus glanced at her.
“We needed freedom.”
“No.”
Nia turned toward the window.
“I needed something.”
“What?”
“My father to admit I mattered.”
Marcus scoffed.
“And how was that working?”
She looked at him.
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“You knew why Dad changed the trust.”
Silence.
Marcus drove faster.
“You knew he suspected you.”
“He suspected everyone.”
“You knew he gave Ethan control to keep it away from you.”
Marcus said nothing.
Nia’s breath trembled.
“You let me believe it was favoritism.”
“It was favoritism.”
“You fed it.”
“I told you the truth.”
“You told me the version that made me useful.”
Marcus braked hard at an exit.
The SUV swerved onto a mountain road.
Nia grabbed the door.
“Where are we going?”
“A cabin.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
She stared at him.
“You own a cabin?”
“Through an LLC.”
“With what money?”
He looked at her.
That answer was enough.
Nia reached for her phone.
Marcus caught her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“Let me go.”
“The police will be tracking it.”
“You said it was off.”
“They can still use network registration once it powers up.”
She pulled free.
“You planned all of this better than I realized.”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“So did you.”
The words silenced her.
He was right.
Marcus had manipulated her.
Victor had lied to her.
Ethan had benefited.
But the knife had been in Nia’s hand.
She had felt rope fibers separate.
No one had forced her.
That truth was heavier than the mountain.
The cabin stood in a pine valley west of Vail.
Marcus unlocked the door.
Inside were food supplies, cash, two prepaid phones and passports.
Nia stared at them.
“You had an escape plan.”
“I had contingencies.”
“For both of us?”
Marcus did not answer quickly enough.
Nia lifted one passport.
Only his photograph.
“Where’s mine?”
“In another bag.”
“Where?”
Marcus turned away.
Nia opened a cabinet.
Nothing.
A bedroom drawer.
Nothing.
Then she saw a black backpack beside the fireplace.
Inside was cash.
A passport.
Marcus’s.
And a flash drive labeled NB AUTHORIZATIONS.
Nia plugged it into a laptop.
Folders opened.
Bank transfers.
Company authorizations.
Copies of her digital signature.
Emails.
Then an audio file.
She clicked.
Her own voice filled the cabin.
If Ethan dies, I control everything.
Another recording.
Nobody will question a mountain accident.
Nia stopped the file.
Marcus stood in the doorway.
Neither spoke.
Nia finally understood.
He had not only planned Ethan’s death.
He had planned what happened if the plan failed.
She would take the blame.
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)
Marcus would take the money.
And somewhere inside the files on that drive was proof that she had been his intended scapegoat from the beginning.
Related Stories
