Chapter 3 - The House Andre Helped BuyThe Reed home had cost $615,000.

Marcus remembered every number because he had obsessed over them before signing the mortgage.

Their down payment had been $123,000.

Taylor had contributed $100,000.

Marcus had contributed $23,000 plus closing costs.

Taylor had told him her money came from savings, an investment account and money her grandmother had left her.

Marcus had never asked for proof.

They were engaged.

He trusted her.

Now he stood in the bedroom where their son had been conceived and stared at an insurance email bearing another man's name.

"How much?" Marcus asked.

Taylor wiped her cheeks.

"What?"

"How much of Andre's insurance money went into this house?"

"Marcus—"

"Number."

Taylor swallowed.

"Ninety-five thousand."

The answer was so precise it became brutal.

Marcus nodded slowly.

"$95,000."

"I invested some of the payment first."

"I'm not asking what your financial planner did."

"I didn't have one."

"Obviously."

Taylor flinched.

Nicole remained by the bassinet.

Marcus paced toward the rain-streaked window.

"So when you told me your grandmother helped you—"

"My grandmother did leave me money."

"How much?"

"Eleven thousand."

Marcus laughed once.

"So ninety-five thousand came from Andre, eleven came from your grandmother, and somehow the story became family savings."

"I wasn't trying to deceive you about the house."

"You literally described money from your dead fiancé as something else."

"I couldn't tell people."

"I am not people."

Taylor looked down.

"I was ashamed."

"Of receiving life insurance?"

"Of everything connected to it."

Marcus turned.

"Then why keep the photograph? The phone? His name?"

Taylor said nothing.

That silence answered too much.

Marcus rubbed his forehead.

"Did you ever intend to tell me?"

"I told myself I would."

"When?"

"Before we got married."

"You didn't."

"I know."

"Before we bought the house?"

Her silence.

"Before we had a baby?"

Silence again.

Marcus pointed at the bassinet.

"Before you named him after Andre?"

Taylor whispered, "I know."

"No. Stop saying that like knowledge is accountability."

The baby whimpered.

Instantly, all three adults quieted.

Marcus walked over.

Nicole handed him the newborn.

Marcus settled the baby against his chest.

The boy relaxed almost immediately.

Taylor watched.

Something in her expression—love, guilt, fear—made Marcus furious.

He lowered his voice.

"This is what you don't understand. None of this changes how I feel about him."

"I know."

"It changes how I feel about you."

Taylor's lips trembled.

Marcus rocked the baby slowly.

"When you received the insurance, were you legally Andre's fiancée?"

"Yes."

"Did he have a will?"

"No."

"Any other money?"

Taylor hesitated.

Marcus noticed.

His eyes hardened.

"What else?"

"Nothing like that."

"That wasn't my question."

Nicole closed her eyes.

Marcus saw it.

He turned toward her.

"What do you know?"

"Not everything."

"Apparently that's your favorite answer."

Nicole deserved the anger, and she accepted it.

"There was a settlement."

Taylor stood.

"Nicole."

Marcus looked at Taylor.

"What settlement?"

"The driver who hit Andre was working."

"Working?"

"Delivery company."

Nicole answered when Taylor wouldn't.

"The company settled the wrongful-death claim with Andre's family."

Marcus frowned.

"Taylor wouldn't automatically get that."

"No," Nicole said. "His mother did."

Marcus looked at Taylor.

"Then why does this involve you?"

Taylor sat down.

"Mrs. Bell gave me some money afterward."

"How much?"

"Twenty-five thousand."

Marcus shut his eyes.

Now the hidden money connected to Andre exceeded $120,000.

"What did you do with it?"

"I paid student loans."

"Before we met?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly?"

Taylor looked toward the floor.

Marcus waited.

She whispered, "Eight thousand was still there when we got married."

"And?"

"I used some for the kitchen renovation."

Marcus stared at the marble counters visible through the hall from where he stood.

He almost laughed.

The absurdity was crushing.

The kitchen where he had proposed a toast to their future after contractors finished.

The house he believed they had built together.

The nursery above money from a dead fiancé.

"Did Andre pay for my kitchen too?"

Taylor recoiled.

"Don't say it like that."

"How should I say it?"

"It was my money legally."

Marcus's face hardened.

"That's the defense you want?"

"No."

"Because if you want to talk legally, fine. We can talk legally."

Taylor froze.

Marcus had never used the word divorce.

He still didn't.

But both women heard it hiding in the sentence.

Taylor approached.

"Marcus, please don't make decisions tonight."

"You've been making decisions for both of us for years."

"I love you."

"Maybe you do."

Her face crumpled.

Marcus hated himself for how much satisfaction the truth gave him.

Then he hated her for making him feel that way.

He handed the baby carefully back to Taylor.

"I'm going downstairs."

"Where are you going tomorrow?"

"Bank."

Taylor's head lifted.

"Why?"

"I want our joint statements."

"You can see them online."

"Good."

Marcus looked at her old phone.

"And I want to know if this is the only money you've hidden."

"It is."

Nicole shifted.

Marcus looked at her.

Again.

That expression.

"What?"

Nicole's eyes closed.

Taylor whispered, "Don't."

Marcus felt cold.

"Nicole."

Nicole inhaled.

"There were transfers."

Taylor stood suddenly.

"Shut up."

Marcus had never heard Taylor speak to her sister like that.

Nicole stared back.

"No."

"What transfers?" Marcus asked.

Nicole's voice shook.

"Taylor sent money to Andre's mother."

Marcus looked at his wife.

Taylor's face had gone completely still.

"After we were married?"

Nicole nodded.

Marcus asked the only question that mattered.

"From whose account?"

Taylor said nothing.

Marcus already knew.

"Ours."

Taylor whispered, "Some of it."

Marcus looked down at his wedding ring.

For the first time, he pushed it completely over his knuckle.

The ring came free.

He set it on the dresser.

Taylor stared at it.

Marcus walked out.

Behind him, the engraved metal circle sat beside a photograph of Taylor and Andre.

Two promises.

One dead.

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One bleeding.

And by morning, Marcus intended to learn exactly how much of his marriage had been financed by a ghost.