Chapter 4 - The Money That DisappearedMonique refused to have the conversation with everyone standing around her.
“Not like this.”
Kiara stared at her.
“You just told Marcus not to say something.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“Kiara—”
“What?”
Darnell walked toward the living room.
“This is old business.”
Kiara followed.
“Old to who?”
Marcus stayed on the patio.
Yvette remained near him.
“You okay?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good. I’d be worried if you said yes.”
Inside, Monique sat on the sofa.
Kiara stood.
Darnell did not sit.
Monique looked toward Marcus through the glass.
Then at her daughter.
“When you were six, my mother started a custodial education account for you.”
Kiara frowned.
“Grandma Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“She died when I was seven.”
Monique nodded.
“She put twelve thousand dollars into that account.”
Kiara blinked.
“I never knew that.”
“No.”
Darnell exhaled.
“Monique.”
She ignored him.
“You were supposed to use it for college.”
Kiara’s eyes moved to her father.
“Supposed to?”
Monique’s voice weakened.
“Almost all of it was withdrawn.”
“By who?”
Nobody answered quickly enough.
Kiara already knew.
“Dad?”
Darnell rubbed his jaw.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
“We were struggling.”
“You and Mom?”
“We were separating.”
Monique shook her head.
“You had already moved out.”
“I was still helping.”
“Helping yourself.”
Darnell’s eyes flashed.
“I used some of it to keep my truck from being repossessed. I needed the truck to work.”
“You withdrew eleven thousand two hundred dollars,” Monique said.
Kiara looked stunned.
“You remember the exact number?”
Marcus spoke from behind them.
“Because I replaced it.”
Everyone turned.
He had come inside.
Kiara stared.
“What?”
Marcus’s face showed no satisfaction.
“I replaced the money.”
“All of it?”
“Over time.”
Darnell scoffed.
“Here we go.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You want to tell her why?”
Darnell’s voice hardened.
“I was trying to survive.”
“So was she.”
“She was seven. She had food, a house—”
“It was her money.”
Darnell pointed.
“And you couldn’t wait to play hero.”
Marcus took a slow breath.
“This is why I didn’t tell her.”
Kiara looked at Monique.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You let me think Grandma didn’t leave me anything.”
“I didn’t want you growing up hating your father.”
Kiara laughed in disbelief.
“So you lied.”
“We protected you.”
“Stop calling lying protection.”
The sentence silenced the room.
Marcus looked down.
He deserved part of it.
Kiara turned to him.
“When you said tuition was due…”
Marcus nodded.
“The fund I rebuilt covered some of your first two years. When that ran out, I paid the shortfalls.”
“How much?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Marcus.”
“Across four years?”
“Yes.”
“Forty-two thousand seven hundred.”
Kiara went pale.
Darnell stared at him.
“You kept a ledger?”
“No.”
“Then how convenient you remember.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“I remember because money I earned has numbers attached to it.”
Kiara covered her mouth.
“I thought my scholarships covered most of it.”
“They covered a lot,” Monique said.
“But not everything.”
“No.”
Kiara looked toward the dining table.
The wrapped present suddenly seemed enormous.
“What’s in the gift?”
Marcus did not answer.
“Marcus.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
He shook his head.
“Not today.”
Darnell folded his arms.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about.”
Kiara turned.
“What?”
“This man keeps a scorecard and calls it love.”
Marcus looked at him.
Darnell continued.
“You see what’s happening? He tells you what he spent so now you feel guilty for choosing me.”
Marcus took one step forward.
“I told her because you told her I pushed you out.”
“And you did.”
“How?”
“You had money. Stability. A house. You made me look useless.”
Marcus’s eyes hardened.
“I didn’t have to make you look anything.”
“Stop!” Kiara shouted.
Everyone froze.
She wiped her face.
“I can’t tell what’s true because every person in this room decided I couldn’t handle the truth until the day everybody wanted the truth to win an argument.”
That landed on all of them.
Even Marcus.
Kiara grabbed her phone.
She walked toward the staircase.
Darnell called after her.
“Kiara.”
She stopped.
Without turning, she said, “Did you come back because you wanted me?”
Darnell’s face shifted.
“Yes.”
She turned.
“Or because Mom wouldn’t give you fifteen thousand dollars?”
His silence lasted only a second.
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But Kiara saw it.
And once she saw it, she could not unsee it.
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