Chapter 5 - Twelve Thousand Dollars
Marcus knew something was wrong the moment he walked through the front door.
Tiana was sitting at the dining table.
No television.
No music.
No phone in her hand.
Just paperwork.
He placed his keys on the counter.
“You found the envelope.”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked toward the driveway.
“You went through the car?”
“It had my name on it.”
“I know.”
“Were you expecting me to find it?”
“Yesterday.”
The answer hurt.
Tiana touched the development rendering.
“You were going to show me this after the SUV?”
“Yes.”
“So the whole birthday was some giant production?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
“You put a bow on your father’s car.”
Marcus exhaled.
“I already admitted that was a bad idea.”
“And you were hiding a multimillion-dollar project.”
“I wasn’t hiding it.”
“I didn’t know what it was worth.”
“You never asked.”
Tiana stared at him.
“That’s convenient.”
Marcus pulled out a chair.
“We’ve talked about Jefferson for almost a year.”
“You said you were buying several properties.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t say you had nearly two million dollars in financing.”
“That money isn’t mine. It’s debt attached to a project.”
“I understand how financing works.”
“Then why are you talking like I have two million sitting in a checking account?”
“Because I’m realizing I don’t know your financial life.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Our finances are separate.”
“Except the future-house account.”
“Yes.”
The words landed like a gavel.
Tiana looked down.
Marcus immediately noticed.
“What?”
She remained silent.
“Tiana.”
“Before we get into everything you kept from me, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Marcus’s shoulders tightened.
“What?”
She pushed her phone across the table.
The banking app was open.
Marcus read the balance.
He frowned.
Then he pulled out his own phone.
Tiana knew what he was doing.
Checking their deposit history.
She watched the exact moment he found the withdrawal.
“March eighteenth,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Twelve thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
His voice remained unnervingly level.
“Where did it go?”
Tiana forced herself to answer.
“An investment.”
“What investment?”
“Something Chanel introduced me to.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Chanel.”
“It wasn’t just her.”
“What is it?”
“LuxeCircle Capital.”
Marcus looked at her.
“What does LuxeCircle invest in?”
“They said short-term luxury rental properties.”
“They?”
“Chanel’s fiancé, Darius, and two partners.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“You transferred twelve thousand dollars from an account with both our names into an investment I didn’t know existed?”
“I was going to replace it.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“Yes.”
“Did I authorize it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell me afterward?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it was supposed to return eighteen.”
Marcus stared.
“In ninety days?”
Tiana nodded.
His disbelief became visible.
“You thought somebody was going to give you a fifty-percent return in three months?”
“When you say it like that—”
“How else should I say it?”
“I checked the website.”
Marcus stood.
“The website.”
“They had documents.”
“What documents?”
Tiana opened her laptop.
She had prepared for this.
Marcus read the presentation without sitting.
Projected return: 35–60 percent.
Luxury short-term rental arbitrage.
Miami.
Atlanta.
Los Angeles.
Photos of penthouses and sports cars.
Marcus scrolled.
“Did you verify ownership of any property?”
“No.”
“Registration?”
“They had an LLC.”
“That proves almost nothing.”
“I know that now.”
“Do you?”
The question sliced through her.
Tiana stood.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot.”
“Then help me understand.”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is ordering the wrong sofa.”
His voice rose for the first time.
“You took twelve thousand dollars we saved together and gave it to somebody because they promised fast money.”
“I was trying to contribute more.”
“To what?”
“Our life.”
Marcus laughed once, without humor.
“Our life.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me for three months.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“You finding out.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Tiana pressed her palms against the table.
“I wanted to catch up.”
Marcus stopped.
“Catch up to what?”
“To you.”
Silence.
Tiana’s throat tightened.
“You make everything look easy. Your business. The house. Saving. Investing. You never panic about money.”
Marcus stared at her.
“So instead of asking me for help, you stole from our account?”
The word struck hard.
“Don’t call it stealing.”
“What would you call taking shared money without permission?”
“It was partly mine.”
“Then why didn’t you take twelve thousand from your personal account?”
Tiana could not answer.
Marcus stepped back.
Something in his face closed.
“The SUV is done.”
Tiana looked up.
“What?”
“I’m calling Alicia.”
“Marcus—”
“This isn’t punishment.”
“It feels like it.”
“I am not transferring a ninety-thousand-dollar vehicle to someone while discovering she secretly moved twelve thousand dollars from our joint account.”
“I can repay it.”
“With what?”
Tiana hesitated.
Marcus noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
“What else don’t I know?”
“Nothing.”
Too fast.
Marcus stared at her.
“Tiana.”
She looked away.
“Tiana, how much debt do you have?”
Her pulse accelerated.
He had asked casually before.
She had always said manageable.
Marcus repeated himself.
“How much?”
Tiana whispered, “I don’t know exactly.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“Then find out.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Marcus—”
“Now.”
For the next twenty minutes, Tiana logged into every account.
Three credit cards.
One personal loan.
One buy-now-pay-later balance.
Marcus wrote each number on a sheet.
$14,862.
$9,441.
$7,903.
$11,600.
$3,174.
Plus the missing twelve thousand.
Marcus added everything.
Tiana already knew the total would be ugly.
He turned the page toward her.
$58,980.
Neither of them spoke.
Finally Marcus whispered, “You kept almost sixty thousand dollars of financial problems from me.”
Tiana stared at the number.
Then his phone rang.
Alicia.
Marcus answered without taking his eyes off Tiana.
“Yes.”
Pause.
“Cancel the transfer.”
Tiana closed her eyes.
Marcus continued.
“And Alicia?”
Another pause.
“Start the return paperwork too.”
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This time, when the luxury SUV disappeared from Tiana’s future, she barely cared.
Because the look on Marcus’s face told her she might have just lost something far more valuable.
