Chapter 14 - Devon’s Boxes
They did not go alone.
Danielle had told Tasha repeatedly not to walk into emotionally charged family confrontations without witnesses.
So Kendra came.
The garage behind Loretta’s duplex was detached, narrow, and overfilled.
Devon stood outside smoking.
He dropped the cigarette beneath his shoe.
“Take what you want.”
Malcolm looked past him.
“What is all this?”
“Records.”
“Why here?”
“Because Mom doesn’t throw anything away.”
Devon opened the garage.
Boxes covered two walls.
Old tax returns.
Repair invoices.
Business files.
Family photographs.
Bank statements.
Malcolm stared.
“You knew this existed?”
“Some of it.”
“Why give it to me now?”
Devon laughed.
“Because Mom thinks I did everything.”
“Didn’t you?”
Devon’s expression hardened.
“You think she’s some confused old lady I tricked?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He pointed into the garage.
“Start with 2024.”
Tasha noticed the change in his tone.
Not innocence.
Resentment.
Devon felt betrayed too.
They sorted boxes for two hours.
Kendra created piles.
Property.
RPH.
Devon’s company.
Bank records.
Malcolm’s payments.
Then Tasha found a folder labeled CAPITAL.
Inside were printed spreadsheets tracking every family contribution to the property.
Loretta: $13,600.
Devon: $4,200.
Malcolm: $16,750.
Tasha stared.
“Malcolm.”
He came over.
His face changed.
“Sixteen?”
The amount was far higher than even he had admitted.
Tasha looked at him.
“You told me seven.”
“I thought it was seven from us.”
“Then where did the rest come from?”
He scanned the dates.
Some payments preceded his job loss by almost a year.
“Bonuses.”
“You sent your bonuses here?”
He looked ashamed.
“I told you we used them for debt.”
“We did.”
“Not all of them.”
Tasha felt another small piece of trust break.
Not explosively.
Quietly.
At this point, trust did not shatter.
It eroded.
Kendra found another document.
“Here.”
A handwritten note in Loretta’s script.
Malcolm contribution balance to be credited against future 20%.
Below it:
Do not finalize until Devon refinance complete.
Tasha looked at Malcolm.
“She did plan to give you something.”
His expression twisted.
“At some point.”
“Apparently.”
That made everything more complicated.
Loretta had not invented every promise.
She had simply kept control by making fulfillment permanently future tense.
Devon entered the garage.
“You found the notebook.”
Malcolm held it up.
“So she was tracking my money.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she put me on the company?”
“Because she didn’t trust you.”
The answer came too quickly.
Malcolm stared.
“What does that mean?”
Devon crossed his arms.
“She thought you’d tell Tasha.”
Tasha almost laughed.
Malcolm looked sick.
“She specifically said that?”
“Repeatedly.”
Devon nodded toward Tasha.
“Your wife asks questions.”
Kendra muttered, “God forbid.”
Devon ignored her.
“Mom said if Tasha knew how much money was going into the house, she’d shut it down.”
Tasha looked at Malcolm.
“Was she wrong?”
“No.”
That honesty hurt less now.
Devon continued.
“So Mom kept saying she’d formalize your share after the refinance.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“You became sole manager.”
“Because somebody had to sign.”
“You were also paying yourself twenty-one thousand dollars.”
Devon’s jaw tightened.
“That company owed me.”
“For what?”
“Property maintenance, legal fees, loan payments.”
“Receipts?”
Devon pointed toward another box.
“Unlike you, I keep them.”
They found invoices.
Some legitimate.
Roof repairs.
Plumbing.
Insurance.
Several payments to Devon’s business corresponded to real expenses he had advanced.
Not all twenty-one thousand was fake.
Tasha watched Malcolm absorb another uncomfortable truth.
Devon had benefited.
But Devon had also paid bills.
Loretta had manipulated.
But she had tracked Malcolm’s intended interest.
Reality refused to become simple villains and victims.
Then Kendra found a bank statement.
“This one matters.”
A cashier’s check for $9,000 had entered RPH from Fourth Quarter Resale.
Another $7,500 transfer followed four days later.
Sixteen thousand five hundred dollars.
Nearly the entire personal loan.
Tasha looked at Malcolm.
“You said seven went to the property.”
Malcolm’s face went blank.
“No.”
“What?”
“I sent nine.”
“The statement says sixteen-five.”
“I did not send the second transfer.”
The garage went silent.
Devon stared.
“What second transfer?”
Malcolm showed him.
Devon frowned.
“I thought both were yours.”
“They weren’t.”
Tasha’s pulse quickened.
“Who still had access to Fourth Quarter then?”
Malcolm looked at Devon.
Devon shook his head.
“I wasn’t logging in by August.”
“Can you prove that?”
“No.”
Then Tasha remembered the device logs.
The same device associated with earlier transfers had been Devon’s laptop.
Malcolm pulled out his phone and opened the bank-access report.
The second $7,500 transfer had been initiated from a device ending in 44A9.
He showed Devon.
Devon’s face changed.
“That’s not my laptop.”
“How do you know?”
“My work machine ended 11F2.”
“Whose is 44A9?”
Devon stared at the code.
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Then looked toward Loretta’s house.
“That’s Mom’s tablet.”
