Chapter 2 - Forty-Eight Thousand Dollars
I stared at Vanessa for several seconds.
“You’re worried I’ll destroy your family?”
She looked down.
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you said.”
“Marcus, please.”
I picked up the bank statement.
“My parents get a Toyota and suddenly we need a lecture about financial respect. But you secretly move forty-eight thousand dollars to Derek, and I’m supposed to protect your family?”
Her face tightened.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means never.”
“No.”
“Then tell me now.”
She pressed her fingers against her forehead.
Upstairs, Caleb’s bedroom door opened.
Vanessa immediately lowered her voice.
“Not here.”
I looked toward the staircase.
Our son appeared at the top.
“Dad?”
I forced my expression to soften.
“Hey, buddy.”
“Are you guys fighting?”
“No,” Vanessa said quickly.
I didn’t contradict her.
Caleb looked unconvinced.
“Can you help me with my math later?”
“Absolutely.”
He nodded and disappeared again.
The second his door closed, I looked at Vanessa.
“My office.”
She followed me.
I shut the door.
“Now talk.”
Vanessa sat down but I remained standing.
“Derek borrowed money.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
“No. From us.”
She winced.
“Fine.”
“For what?”
“He owes someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
I laughed.
“You secretly sent forty-eight thousand dollars to someone who owes money to a person you can’t identify?”
“He was scared.”
“Derek is always scared when he needs money.”
“That’s cruel.”
“It’s history.”
Derek had opened three businesses in seven years.
A gym.
A car-detailing company.
An import business.
Every failure came with excuses.
Every failure ended with Vanessa asking me to help.
This time she hadn’t asked.
“Did he lose money again?”
She hesitated.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“He used money that wasn’t his.”
My stomach tightened.
“What money?”
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“Investor money.”
I stared at her.
“How much?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“How much, Vanessa?”
“About one hundred and twenty thousand.”
I slowly sat down.
“And you gave him forty-eight?”
“He said he could cover the rest.”
“Cover?”
“He needed to replace it before anyone noticed.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You helped him hide stolen money?”
“He didn’t steal it.”
“What would you call taking investor funds for something they weren’t intended for?”
“He was going to replace it.”
“So stealing temporarily?”
She glared at me.
“You always reduce everything to the ugliest version.”
“Because you keep dressing ugly things in nice language.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“He’s my brother.”
“And that means what?”
“I couldn’t let him go to prison.”
I leaned back.
There it was.
Not an emergency loan.
Not business trouble.
She had used our savings to help Derek cover possible fraud.
“Does your mother know?”
Vanessa looked away.
That told me everything.
“Of course she does.”
“She was worried.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So the whole family discussed this except your husband.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Stop saying that.”
My voice rose.
“Stop calling the consequences of your choices unfair.”
Vanessa stood.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to have family depending on you.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“My parents depended on me for one car and you nearly declared war.”
She went silent.
I continued.
“Your family has been depending on me for twelve years.”
“That’s different.”
I stood too.
“Say that word one more time.”
She stopped.
We stood on opposite sides of my desk.
I suddenly felt as if I were looking at a stranger.
“What happens if Derek’s investors discover the money missing?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“He says they won’t.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“He’s fixing it.”
“With whose money?”
She didn’t answer.
I walked to the window.
The plantation was dark beyond the glass.
Something else bothered me.
“How much money is left in our joint savings?”
Vanessa froze.
I turned.
“Vanessa.”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You manage that account with me.”
“I haven’t checked.”
“Liar.”
She flinched.
I hated saying it.
But I knew.
I opened my laptop and logged into the bank.
The balance appeared.
I stared.
Then refreshed the page because I thought I had read it incorrectly.
Our emergency account should have contained nearly ninety-two thousand dollars.
There was twenty-six thousand left.
I slowly turned the laptop toward her.
“Where’s the rest?”
Her lips parted.
“Marcus…”
“Forty-eight explains part of it.”
I tapped the screen.
“Where is the other eighteen thousand?”
She began crying.
I felt nothing.
Not yet.
“Answer me.”
“My mother needed some.”
“For what?”
“She had debt.”
“How much?”
“Twelve thousand.”
“And the rest?”
“Derek.”
Again.
I stood motionless.
“So it wasn’t forty-eight.”
She shook her head.
“How much total?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
“Marcus.”
“How much?”
Her voice became tiny.
“Sixty thousand.”
My chest tightened.
“You gave Derek sixty thousand dollars?”
She nodded.
“Without telling me.”
Another nod.
I closed the laptop.
“You’re done with that account.”
Her head snapped up.
“What?”
“Tomorrow morning, I’m moving what remains into an account requiring both signatures.”
“You can’t control me.”
“This isn’t control. This is protecting our household from secret withdrawals.”
“I’m your wife.”
“Then behave like a partner.”
Her face hardened.
“You think because you earn more, you can humiliate me.”
“I gave you land specifically so you would have income independent of me.”
“That land is mine.”
I stared at her.
“Yes.”
She seemed confused.
“I’m not trying to take it.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying your independence somehow applies only when money belongs to you.”
She looked away.
I grabbed my phone.
Her head jerked up.
“Who are you calling?”
“Derek.”
Vanessa rushed around the desk.
“No.”
She grabbed my wrist.
I pulled free.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Marcus, please.”
“If my money is helping cover his fraud, I’m speaking to him.”
“He’ll panic.”
“Good.”
I dialed.
Vanessa reached for the phone again.
I stepped back.
It rang three times.
Then Derek answered.
“Marcus?”
His voice sounded cautious.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Why?”
“I want to talk about the money Vanessa sent you.”
Another silence.
Then I heard something strange.
A man speaking in the background.
Derek whispered, “This is a bad time.”
“Sixty thousand dollars is always a good time.”
Vanessa was shaking her head at me.
Derek exhaled.
“She told you?”
“I found out.”
“I’ll pay it back.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I’m handling it.”
“Who were the investors?”
He went quiet.
My skin prickled.
“Derek.”
Then he said something that changed the entire situation.
“They weren’t investors.”
Vanessa looked confused too.
“What?”
Derek’s voice dropped.
“I lied to Vanessa.”
My eyes moved to my wife.
She stared at the phone.
“Then what was the money for?”
Derek hesitated.
“Someone has something on me.”
“What?”
“I can’t explain over the phone.”
“Try.”
“No.”
“Derek—”
“I said I can’t.”
I heard a door slam on his end.
Then Derek whispered urgently.
“Marcus, listen to me. Whatever Vanessa told you, don’t move any more money.”
I frowned.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“And don’t call Mom.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Why?”
Derek heard her voice.
“Vanessa’s there?”
“Yes.”
His breathing changed.
“Put me on speaker.”
I did.
Derek said one sentence.
“Vanessa, check the plantation account.”
She went still.
“What?”
“Check it now.”
Her hands began shaking.
She opened her banking app.
I watched the color drain from her face.
“What?” I asked.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
“No.”
“What happened?”
She looked at me.
May you like
Terror filled her eyes.
“The plantation account is empty.”
