Chapter 26 - The Boundary
Chanel appeared outside Tiana’s office on a Tuesday afternoon.
No warning.
No lawyer.
No expensive handbag.
She looked exhausted.
Tiana stopped several feet away.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I need five minutes.”
“No.”
“Tiana.”
“No.”
Chanel’s face tightened.
“We were friends for nine years.”
“That’s why you should understand what ‘no’ sounds like.”
People moved through the lobby around them.
Chanel lowered her voice.
“Darius is blaming everything on me.”
“Talk to your attorney.”
“He says I designed the recruitment.”
“Did you?”
“I wrote messaging.”
“That sounds like yes.”
“I didn’t know he was taking money.”
“You took commissions.”
“I earned commissions.”
“Without telling me.”
Chanel looked away.
Tiana’s anger sharpened.
“Twelve hundred dollars.”
“What?”
“That’s what you made when I invested, right?”
Chanel said nothing.
“You listened to me complain about money. You told me I needed to prove myself. You told me not to tell Marcus.”
“I believed the investment worked.”
“Then why hide your commission?”
“Because I knew you’d judge it.”
The sentence was painfully familiar.
Tiana almost laughed.
Everybody hid truth because they feared judgment.
That did not make the hiding harmless.
“You accessed my accounts?”
“No.”
“Did Darius?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you give him my passcode?”
Chanel’s eyes shifted.
Tiana noticed.
“Chanel.”
“He saw me unlock your phone before.”
“Did you tell him the code?”
“I don’t remember.”
“That means yes.”
“I said I don’t remember.”
Tiana stared at the woman she had once trusted completely.
“Why did you write that I was image-sensitive?”
Chanel froze.
“How do you know about that?”
“The spreadsheet.”
Fear crossed Chanel’s face.
“Tiana—”
“You categorized me.”
“That was Darius’s format.”
“But those were your words.”
Silence.
“Competitive.”
Tiana stepped closer.
“Access to Marcus.”
Chanel’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Tiana felt something inside her settle.
Not forgiveness.
Not revenge.
Clarity.
“You’re sorry because they found it.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s accurate.”
“I loved you like a sister.”
“No.”
Tiana shook her head.
“You loved the version of me you could influence.”
Chanel began crying.
“I lost everything.”
Tiana’s instinct was to comfort her.
Nine years of habit.
She did not.
“I’m not happy about that.”
“My engagement is over.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My accounts are frozen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“People think I’m a criminal.”
“I don’t know what you are legally.”
Chanel looked up.
“But?”
“But I know what you did to me.”
Tiana took a breath.
“And I’m done discussing it without attorneys.”
“Tee.”
“Do not come to my job again.”
“Tiana, please.”
“Goodbye, Chanel.”
She walked past her.
Her hands shook inside the elevator.
By the time the doors closed, Tiana was crying.
But she did not turn around.
That evening she told Marcus.
He listened from across a restaurant table.
They had begun eating dinner together once a week.
Not dates.
At least neither called them that.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I wanted to hug her.”
“Why?”
“Because she was crying.”
“That sounds human.”
“I also wanted to scream.”
“Also human.”
“I did neither.”
Marcus nodded.
“What did you do?”
“Set a boundary.”
“Therapy is ruining you.”
Tiana laughed.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Any boundaries today?”
Marcus smiled.
“I told Andre to stop asking whether we’re getting back together.”
“What did he say?”
“He said thank God because he was tired of hearing me talk about you.”
Tiana’s smile softened.
“You talk about me?”
“Occasionally.”
“How occasionally?”
Marcus drank water.
“That question violates a boundary.”
She laughed again.
Then his expression turned serious.
“Karen called.”
Tiana’s body tightened.
“What happened?”
“Investigators traced several unauthorized logins.”
“To Chanel?”
“No.”
“To Darius?”
“Device seized from his apartment.”
Tiana closed her eyes.
“So he accessed my bank.”
“Looks like it.”
“Did Chanel help?”
“Unknown.”
Tiana nodded.
Proof.
One piece at a time.
Marcus continued.
“There’s another thing.”
“What?”
“Darius apparently built profiles on multiple investors.”
“Like mine.”
“Yes.”
“Did he target people through friends?”
“Often.”
Tiana looked down.
“I feel stupid again.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Don’t.”
“I ignored obvious things.”
“Yes.”
She looked up sharply.
Marcus continued.
“You did.”
Tiana stared.
Then laughed.
“Thank you for the tenderness.”
“You told me not to lie.”
“Fair.”
He reached across the table.
His hand stopped halfway.
A question.
Tiana placed hers in it.
No audience.
No test.
No leverage.
Just permission.
Marcus squeezed her fingers.
“Tiana.”
“Yes?”
“I want our dinners to be dates.”
Her pulse accelerated.
“Starting when?”
“Next week.”
“Why not this one?”
“Because I want to ask properly.”
She smiled.
“Okay.”
Marcus looked nervous.
She had almost forgotten he could.
“So?”
“So what?”
“Ask.”
He took a breath.
“Tiana Brooks, would you go on a date with me next Tuesday?”
She pretended to think.
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“No games.”
“You’re right.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
When they left the restaurant, Marcus opened her car door.
Tiana paused.
“You know I can do that myself.”
“I know.”
“No test?”
“No test.”
“No hidden SUV?”
“No.”
“No transfer specialist waiting behind a tree?”
Marcus laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Tiana got in.
As he closed the door, she realized something that would have seemed impossible two months earlier.
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