Chapter 3 - What Maya Was Trying to Hide
Maya stared at the bank statement.
For several seconds, she looked like someone searching for a door that wasn't there.
Then she straightened.
“I was going to put it back.”
Marcus didn't respond.
“I swear I was.”
Tasha stepped forward.
“What are you talking about?”
Maya wiped her cheeks.
“I needed the money for something. It was temporary.”
“What something?” Marcus asked.
Maya hesitated.
“A business opportunity.”
Nia closed her eyes.
She already knew part of the answer.
Six weeks earlier, Maya had rented a small booth inside a beauty studio across town.
She wanted to build her own clientele, eventually open a salon, and stop depending on her parents.
The problem was that she had signed a rental agreement before securing enough customers.
By the second month, she was already behind.
The studio owner had warned her that another missed payment would cost her the space and part of her deposit.
Maya had been embarrassed.
Instead of telling her parents, she had tried to solve the problem herself.
Tasha had previously given Maya access to the family banking application to help pay household bills while Marcus worked out of town.
Maya knew the account information.
She also knew exactly how much money Caleb had saved.
She transferred $1,760 into her business account, telling herself she would repay it after a busy weekend.
The weekend wasn't busy.
Neither was the next one.
And when Caleb noticed the missing money, Maya panicked.
“I didn't steal it,” Maya insisted. “I borrowed it.”
Marcus placed the statement on the coffee table.
“Did you ask Caleb?”
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
“No.”
“Did you tell your mother?”
Maya shook her head.
“Then you took money that wasn't yours.”
Tasha looked as though someone had struck her.
“Maya, I gave you access to that account because I trusted you.”
“I know!”
“Then why?”
“Because everybody acts like I'm supposed to have everything figured out!”
Her voice cracked.
“Caleb has his engineering program. Nia has her scholarship applications. Dad keeps talking about their futures. Meanwhile, I'm twenty years old, and everything I try keeps falling apart!”
Caleb stared at her.
He hadn't known she felt that way.
But knowing didn't make his missing money hurt less.
“That program is my future,” he said.
Maya turned toward him.
“You don't understand how much pressure I'm under.”
Caleb's expression hardened.
“You took my money.”
“I said I was going to pay it back!”
“And when I found out, you told Mom I hit you.”
The words seemed to empty the room.
Maya looked away.
Marcus sat down slowly.
He had watched the footage.
He knew the accusation was false.
But hearing Caleb connect the theft to the lie made the betrayal feel even more deliberate.
“How long have you known?” Marcus asked.
Caleb looked at the floor.
“Three days.”
“Why didn't you come to me immediately?”
“Because I wanted to give her a chance to fix it.”
That answer hurt Marcus more than he expected.
His son had discovered someone had taken nearly two thousand dollars from him.
And instead of running to his father, he had tried to handle the situation alone.
Marcus remembered all the times Caleb had said everything was fine.
All the evenings when he ate dinner quietly and disappeared upstairs.
He had mistaken silence for peace.
Now he understood it might have been resignation.
Nia stepped forward.
“Dad, there's something I need to say.”
Everyone looked at her.
“A few days ago, Caleb asked me whether Maya was having money problems.”
Maya snapped her head toward her sister.
“Nia!”
“I told him I didn't know.”
Nia's voice shook.
“But I did know about the studio. Maya asked me not to tell anyone because she was embarrassed.”
Marcus studied her.
“Did you know she'd taken Caleb's money?”
“No. Not until I heard them talking in the hallway yesterday.”
Caleb looked up.
Nia nodded.
“I heard Maya promise she'd pay you back before Dad checked the account.”
Tasha stared at her daughters.
Two of her children had known something was wrong.
And neither had come to her.
Nia looked toward Caleb.
“I should've said something yesterday. I'm sorry.”
Caleb nodded faintly.
It wasn't forgiveness.
But it was the first apology he had received that night.
Then Marcus's phone vibrated.
A message from Tasha's older sister, Gloria, appeared on the screen.
Marcus read it.
His expression darkened.
Gloria had written:
Tasha just told me Maya says Caleb attacked her. Are you seriously letting that boy stay in the house with your girls?
Marcus looked toward his wife.
Tasha went still.
May you like
The accusation had already left their living room.
And someone else now believed it.
