Chapter 13 - The Recording
The audio was six minutes and eleven seconds long.
Tiana listened once.
Then again.
By the third time, she could barely breathe.
The recording came from the February dinner at Bishop House.
She remembered the table.
The champagne.
The music.
She had not remembered being recorded.
Darius’s voice sounded relaxed.
“So Marcus is buying the whole Jefferson block?”
Tiana laughed.
“Not the whole block. He wishes.”
“How many properties?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“But enough to be serious.”
“He’s been obsessed with it for months.”
Darius asked, “Northline bringing in outside capital?”
“I don’t know.”
“Marcus ever talk about private investors?”
“He hates anything that sounds like easy money.”
Chanel laughed in the background.
“Marcus hates fun.”
Tiana replied, “Basically.”
Hearing herself say it now made her ashamed.
Darius continued.
“But if the right investor came along?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask him.”
“Would you introduce us?”
“Maybe after your Miami thing pays me.”
Everyone laughed.
Then Tiana said the worst sentence.
“If you make me eighteen grand, Marcus might finally admit I know something he doesn’t.”
The recording ended soon afterward.
No evidence of partnership.
No admission of fraud.
But taken out of context, it sounded damaging.
Tiana sat in Karen Bell’s office with Marcus and Andre.
Karen removed her glasses.
“The good news is this doesn’t establish Northline’s involvement.”
Andre crossed his arms.
“And the bad news?”
“It establishes social proximity.”
“To Tiana,” Andre said.
“Yes.”
“And Tiana is not Northline.”
“Correct.”
Andre glanced toward Marcus.
The room tightened.
Karen continued.
“We send the full context to the lender, along with corporate records showing no payments between Northline and LuxeCircle.”
Marcus nodded.
“What about the recording itself?”
“Georgia is a one-party consent state. If Darius was part of the conversation, recording may have been lawful.”
Tiana felt violated anyway.
“So he can just record me?”
“Legality and ethics aren’t the same.”
“Did Chanel know?”
“We don’t know.”
Tiana looked at Marcus.
“I’m sorry.”
Andre exhaled sharply.
“Tiana, I’m trying very hard not to make this personal.”
“It is personal.”
“My business employs eighteen people.”
“I know.”
“Jefferson employs subcontractors beyond that.”
“I know.”
“Then understand why ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t enough.”
Marcus looked at Andre.
“He understands,” Tiana said before Marcus could defend her.
Andre met her eyes.
“I hope so.”
“I do.”
Tiana turned to Karen.
“What can I do?”
“Provide a sworn written statement documenting how you were recruited.”
“I will.”
“Provide communications.”
“Yes.”
“And do not contact Chanel or Darius.”
Tiana nodded.
Marcus asked, “What about regulators?”
“I recommend Tiana file complaints with the Georgia Secretary of State Securities Division and appropriate federal authorities depending on what the investment instrument qualifies as. I’m coordinating with a securities attorney.”
Tiana swallowed.
“This became very serious very fast.”
Karen looked at her.
“It may have been serious long before you realized it.”
After the meeting, Marcus and Tiana walked to the parking deck.
Neither spoke until they reached her car.
Tiana had borrowed Denise’s compact sedan because she no longer wanted to use Marcus’s vehicles.
“Andre hates me,” she said.
“He’s angry.”
“He should be.”
“He doesn’t hate you.”
“You don’t have to protect me.”
“I’m not.”
Marcus stopped beside the car.
“Tiana, there’s something I need you to understand.”
“What?”
“Darius recorded you because he planned ahead.”
She nodded.
“This wasn’t your oversharing alone.”
“I gave him the opportunity.”
“Yes.”
Marcus did not soften it.
“But he created the trap.”
Tiana looked toward the concrete floor.
“That sounds familiar.”
Marcus frowned.
“What?”
“Creating a trap to see what someone does.”
The comparison landed.
Marcus’s face tightened.
“That’s different.”
“Of course it is.”
“You’re comparing the birthday car to fraud?”
“No.”
Tiana met his eyes.
“I’m saying manipulation works because the person controlling the situation knows something the other person doesn’t.”
Marcus remained silent.
“You knew that sedan wasn’t my real gift.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me react inside a reality you created.”
“Yes.”
“And you planned to judge me from it.”
Marcus looked away.
Tiana continued carefully.
“What Darius did is worse. Much worse. I’m not equating them.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I don’t want either of us manipulating reality to get answers.”
Marcus leaned against a pillar.
The parking deck echoed around them.
Finally he nodded.
“You’re right.”
Tiana exhaled.
“I hate being right about that.”
“I hate hearing it.”
A small, sad smile passed between them.
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
Andre.
He answered.
“What happened?”
His expression changed.
“When?”
Tiana watched.
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Okay. I’m coming back.”
He hung up.
“What?”
“The Jefferson seller received the recording.”
“Oh God.”
“And?”
Marcus hesitated.
“The seller has another buyer.”
Tiana felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“He’s considering terminating our contract.”
“Can he?”
“There are contingencies.”
“Because of LuxeCircle?”
“Because he thinks Northline may become a reputational risk.”
Tiana’s voice cracked.
“Marcus.”
He looked at her.
“If you lose Jefferson because of me—”
“Stop.”
“How can I?”
“Because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“But—”
Marcus placed both hands on her shoulders.
For the first time in days, he touched her.
“Tiana.”
She looked at him.
“We deal with what is true.”
She nodded.
“Not what we fear.”
The sentence steadied her.
Then Marcus released her.
He turned toward the elevators.
Tiana watched him go.
Five days earlier she had measured Marcus’s value by the car she believed he could afford.
Now his company stood on the edge of losing the biggest project of his career.
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And she finally understood something money could not calculate.
The real price of her choices was being paid by people who had never agreed to the purchase.
