Chapter 2 - What Darren Wanted
Angela stared at the black phone.
Her face had gone pale.
“What does he mean?”
I didn’t answer.
Because another message appeared.
Darren:
Don’t back down. David has been living off what should have been yours.
I felt anger rise through me.
Angela reached for the phone.
I stopped her.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus needs to show us himself.”
“He’s seventeen, David.”
“And if we invade every message now, Darren gets to tell him we proved everything he said.”
Angela pulled her hand away.
“You’re right.”
Neither of us liked it.
I called upstairs.
“Marcus.”
No answer.
“Come down here.”
His door opened.
“What?”
“Now.”
He walked downstairs, still angry.
Then he saw the phone.
His expression changed.
I pointed toward it.
“Who bought that?”
He said nothing.
“Marcus.”
“Darren gave it to me.”
Angela looked wounded.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“You met him?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Yes.”
Angela grabbed the back of a chair.
“You met Darren without telling me?”
“He’s my father.”
“You have no idea who he is.”
“I’m trying to find out!”
“By lying to us?”
Marcus looked at me.
“You told her?”
“I didn’t have to.”
I pointed at the glowing screen.
“You left that downstairs.”
He rushed toward it.
I stepped aside.
“I didn’t open it.”
Marcus picked it up.
His eyes moved across the preview.
Then he locked the screen.
“What does he mean?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Then explain it.”
“He said you’ve been controlling Mom’s money.”
Angela’s mouth opened.
“What?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable now.
“He said Grandpa left things for us.”
Angela slowly sat down.
I turned toward her.
“What is he talking about?”
She pressed both hands to her forehead.
“My father.”
“I know who Grandpa Walter was.”
Angela looked at Marcus.
“When my father died, he left me this house.”
Marcus nodded.
“And money.”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
Angela continued.
“He also created a trust for you.”
Marcus stared at her.
“What trust?”
“A college and inheritance trust.”
“How much?”
“Marcus—”
“How much?”
Angela swallowed.
“About one hundred and eighty thousand dollars now.”
Marcus looked like someone had punched him.
“You never told me?”
“You were twelve when Dad died.”
“I’m seventeen now.”
“I was going to tell you before you turned eighteen.”
“When does it become mine?”
“Part of it becomes accessible for education at eighteen. Full control comes later.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“So Darren was right.”
“No.”
Angela stood.
“Darren was absolutely not right.”
“He said David controls it.”
I stared at her.
“Do I?”
“No.”
Angela shook her head.
“The trust is managed by an independent attorney and financial trustee.”
I looked at Marcus.
“I have never touched one dollar.”
“He said your name was on it.”
“My name?”
Angela nodded reluctantly.
“You’re listed as successor guardian if something happened to me before Marcus turned eighteen.”
Marcus pointed at me.
“There.”
“That doesn’t give David your money.”
“It gives him control.”
“No,” Angela said. “It gives him responsibility.”
Marcus laughed.
“Same thing.”
I felt that sentence land.
“Did Darren show you documents?”
“Yes.”
“Actual documents?”
“Pictures.”
“Let me see.”
“No.”
“Marcus.”
“He said you’d do this.”
I almost smiled from frustration.
“Do what?”
“Demand proof and make him look crazy.”
“No.”
I stepped back.
“I’m asking to see what convinced you.”
Marcus’s eyes flickered.
That was the first crack.
Angela noticed it too.
“What else did Darren say?”
Marcus looked away.
“That you came into our lives because of the house.”
I stared at him.
“You were six when I met your mother.”
“So?”
“I was renting a two-bedroom apartment and driving a truck that overheated every summer.”
Angela almost laughed despite herself.
I continued.
“If I had been hunting wealthy women, I was doing a terrible job.”
Marcus didn’t smile.
“He said Mom’s father hated you.”
Angela’s expression changed.
“My father loved David.”
“He said Grandpa wanted them back together.”
“Who?”
“You and Darren.”
Angela looked genuinely shocked.
“That is insane.”
Marcus raised his voice.
“He had letters!”
“What letters?”
“From Grandpa.”
Angela stepped closer.
“Show me.”
“He has them.”
“Of course he does.”
Marcus looked angry again.
“You never give him a chance.”
“I gave him chance after chance when you were little.”
“You never told me that.”
“Because I didn’t want you growing up hating him.”
That stopped Marcus.
Angela’s voice cracked.
“I told you your father had problems.”
She wiped her face.
“I told you he wasn’t ready to be a parent.”
Marcus stared at her.
“The truth was uglier.”
I had never heard Angela talk like this.
She continued.
“Darren gambled.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“He borrowed money from everyone.”
“He said that was years ago.”
“It was.”
Angela nodded.
“But when I was pregnant with you, he took money from the account we had saved for rent.”
Marcus looked down.
“He disappeared for three days.”
“Mom—”
“When you were two, he opened a credit card using my information.”
Marcus looked back up.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He said you made that up during the custody case.”
“There was no custody case.”
Silence.
Angela’s voice hardened.
“He never filed for custody.”
Marcus swallowed.
“He said—”
“He left.”
The words came out broken.
“He simply left.”
For the first time that night, Marcus looked frightened rather than angry.
I hated seeing it.
Because no matter how badly he had spoken to me, part of me still wanted to protect him from the truth.
Marcus suddenly grabbed the black phone.
“I’m calling him.”
Angela reached for him.
“Marcus, wait.”
He pulled away.
The call connected.
Darren answered almost immediately.
“Hey, son.”
I felt something twist inside me at how easily he used that word.
Marcus put the phone on speaker.
“Did Grandpa hate David?”
Silence.
Then Darren said, “Who’s there?”
“Answer me.”
“Marcus, we talked about this.”
“My mom says you’re lying.”
Darren laughed softly.
“Of course she does.”
Angela stepped forward.
“Darren.”
The line went silent.
Then his voice changed.
“Angela.”
Fourteen years disappeared from her face.
I saw fear.
Not nostalgia.
Fear.
“Stay away from my son.”
“Our son.”
“You disappeared.”
“Because you made sure I had nothing.”
“That is a lie.”
“You took my family.”
“You abandoned it.”
Marcus shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone went silent.
Then Darren spoke gently.
“Marcus, come stay with me.”
My stomach tightened.
Angela shook her head.
“No.”
“You’re old enough,” Darren continued. “Come hear everything without them standing over you.”
Marcus looked at me.
I didn’t tell him no.
Maybe that surprised him.
I said, “If you go, I want an address.”
Darren laughed.
“There he goes controlling you again.”
“No,” I said. “There I go making sure a seventeen-year-old tells his family where he is.”
Darren went quiet.
Then he gave Marcus an address.
A motel near the interstate.
Angela stared at the phone.
“You live in a motel?”
“Temporary.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
Darren quickly added, “My apartment is being renovated.”
I almost said something.
I didn’t.
Marcus needed to hear the cracks himself.
“I’ll come tomorrow,” he said.
Angela grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Marcus pulled away.
“I need to know.”
She looked at me.
I hated the decision.
But locking Marcus inside this house would hand Darren exactly what he wanted.
“You can go for the afternoon,” I said.
Angela stared at me.
“David.”
“I’ll drive him.”
“No,” Marcus said.
“Then I follow you.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I don’t trust Darren.”
Marcus’s phone buzzed again.
He looked down.
His face changed.
“What?” I asked.
He turned the screen away.
Too late.
I had seen the first line.
Bring your Social Security card.
I stared at him.
“Why does your father need your Social Security number?”
May you like
Marcus didn’t answer.
And suddenly, the trust was no longer the only thing I was worried about.
