Chapter 9: The Witness
Nia couldn't speak.
The pastor stood in the doorway as calmly as if he had arrived for Sunday service.
Marcus stared at him.
“Samuel.””
Samuel Reed smiled.
“Marcus.””
Tasha moved closer to Nia.
“That's him?””
Marcus nodded.
Samuel sighed.
“You always were dramatic.””
Marcus's voice was low.
“You lied to me.””
“I protected you.””
“By selling me out?””
Samuel's smile vanished.
“I did what I had to do.””
Nia stepped forward.
“Why were you at my birth?””
Samuel looked at her.
“Because your mother asked me to be there.””
“Why?””
“To protect you.””
Nia almost laughed.
“Everyone keeps using that word.””
Samuel glanced at Marcus.
“He taught you well.””
Nia's eyes narrowed.
“Don't.””
Samuel walked into the room.
Darius stood near the kitchen counter, watching him carefully.
Nia noticed.
Darius wasn't smiling anymore.
He looked afraid.
That frightened her more than anything.
She pointed at Samuel.
“You know what is in the attic.””
“Yes.””
“You know where the ledger is.””
“Yes.””
“You know what happened to my father.””
“Yes.””
“And you've been watching me my entire life.””
Samuel's expression softened.
“Yes.””
Nia's hands curled.
“Why?””
“Because your father asked me to.””
Marcus shook his head.
“I never asked you to follow her.””
“You asked me to protect her.””
“Not like this.””
Samuel smiled.
“You weren't in a position to be selective.””
Nia turned toward Marcus.
“What did you actually ask him to do?””
Marcus looked ashamed.
“I asked him to make sure you survived.””
“And he did.””
“Yes.””
Samuel said quietly, “I did.””
Nia looked at him.
“Then why did you betray Dad?””
Samuel's face hardened.
“Because your father made a choice.””
“What choice?””
“He chose you.””
Nia frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.””
Samuel walked toward the dining table.
He placed a folder on it.
“Twenty years ago, your father discovered that Darius's father was laundering money through construction projects.””
Marcus said, “Samuel—”
“No.””
Samuel looked at Nia.
“She deserves the truth.””
He opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements, contracts, photographs and handwritten notes.
Nia picked up one photograph.
It showed her father standing beside Darius's father.
Another showed Denise.
Another showed Samuel.
And another showed a young Darius.
But the last photograph made Nia's blood run cold.
It showed her mother holding a newborn baby.
The baby was Nia.
Standing beside Evelyn was Marcus.
And beside Marcus—
Samuel.
Nia looked at him.
“You were there.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Samuel's eyes darkened.
“Because your mother was in danger.””
“From Darius's father?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“She had the ledger.””
Nia stared.
“The ledger was in our family?””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
Samuel looked toward the attic.
“Your father hid it.””
Nia shook her head.
“You said it wasn't in the metal box.””
“It isn't.””
“Then where?””
Samuel looked at Darius.
“Ask him.””
Darius's face hardened.
“I don't know.””
Samuel laughed.
“You've spent three years searching for it.””
Nia turned to Darius.
“You knew.””
Darius shrugged.
“I knew there was a ledger.””
“You knew my father hid it.””
“Yes.””
“You knew the house was built around the trust.””
“Yes.””
“You knew I was the beneficiary.””
“Yes.””
“And you married me anyway.””
Darius's eyes narrowed.
“Yes.””
Nia felt something inside her go completely still.
“Why?””
He didn't answer.
She stepped closer.
“Why did you marry me?””
Darius's jaw clenched.
“Because your mother had the only copy of the trust.””
Nia looked at Evelyn.
“And you?””
Evelyn whispered, “I thought he loved you.””
Darius laughed.
“I did love her.””
Nia stared.
“You don't know what love is.””
“I loved what she represented.””
“What did I represent?””
“The house.””
Silence.
Nia nodded slowly.
There it was.
The truth.
Not romance.
Not destiny.
Not a marriage built on love.
An acquisition.
She had been an asset.
A signature.
A key.
A woman standing between him and property.
She looked at the man she had once married and felt nothing.
That frightened her too.
Darius stepped toward her.
“You think you're better than me now?””
Nia shook her head.
“No.””
“I built this family.””
“You built a prison.””
“You wouldn't have anything without me.””
Nia smiled faintly.
“My father bought my house before I even knew your name.””
Darius's face twisted.
Samuel stepped between them.
“It's time.””
Darius looked at him.
“For what?””
Samuel pulled a small key from his pocket.
“The ledger.””
Marcus's eyes widened.
“You have it.””
Samuel nodded.
“I've had it for twenty years.””
Nia stared.
“Why didn't you give it to my father?””
“Because your father was dead.””
Marcus snapped, “I was alive.””
Samuel looked at him.
“Barely.””
“You sold the records.””
“I sold enough to make them believe you were dead.””
“You could have come back.””
“And risked Nia?””
Marcus fell silent.
Samuel turned to Nia.
“Your father made me promise that if anything happened to him, I would keep you away from the Carter family.””
“You failed.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because I underestimated Darius.””
Darius looked away.
Samuel continued.
“I watched him court you. I watched him marry you. I watched him slowly isolate you.””
Nia's voice was quiet.
“You could have stopped him.””
“Yes.””
“Why didn't you?””
Samuel looked ashamed.
“Because I needed him to lead me to his father.””
Nia stared.
“You used me.””
“Yes.””
The admission was almost worse than denial.
Tasha stepped forward.
“You let her suffer so you could catch another man?””
Samuel nodded.
“I thought it would be worth it.””
Nia's eyes burned.
“And was it?””
Samuel looked at her.
“No.””
The word carried no defense.
No excuse.
Just regret.
He placed the key on the table.
“The ledger is hidden beneath the floor of the house.””
Nia frowned.
“Where?””
“Under the living room.””
Darius suddenly moved.
He grabbed the folder and ran toward the door.
Malik stepped into his path.
“Don't.””
Darius shoved him.
Malik crashed against the wall.
Nia screamed.
“Malik!””
Darius ran.
Marcus chased him.
The front door slammed.
Nia followed.
Outside, Darius sprinted toward his SUV.
Marcus caught his shoulder.
Darius swung.
Marcus ducked.
They struggled beside the driveway.
“Tell me where the ledger is!”” Marcus shouted.
Darius shoved him.
“You're too late!””
Nia ran toward them.
“Dad!””
Darius looked at her.
His expression changed.
For one second, Nia saw the man she had married.
Then the mask returned.
“You should've stayed quiet.””
He reached inside the SUV.
Nia froze.
Marcus grabbed his wrist.
The object fell.
Not a weapon.
A crowbar.
Darius stared at it.
Then at the house.
He realized.
Nia followed his gaze.
“You were going back for it.””
Darius said nothing.
“The ledger.””
Silence.
Nia understood.
She ran inside.
The others followed.
She reached the living room.
The overturned coffee table was still lying where she had left it.
She stared at the floor.
The lightweight rug was slightly crooked.
One corner had folded over.
Nia pulled it back.
There.
A narrow line in the hardwood.
A concealed hatch.
She dropped to her knees.
Her fingers found the edge.
She lifted.
Inside was a black metal case.
Darius appeared behind her.
“No!””
Nia pulled the case free.
Darius lunged.
Marcus caught him.
The case landed in Nia's lap.
She opened it.
Inside was a ledger.
Old.
Leather-bound.
And beneath it—
a photograph.
Nia picked it up.
Her breath stopped.
The photograph showed her father, her mother, Samuel…
and another person.
A woman Nia didn't recognize.
On the back, in her father's handwriting, were six words:
*She knows who tried to kill me.*
Nia looked at Samuel.
“Who is she?””
Samuel's face went white.
Evelyn began crying.
Darius stopped struggling.
Even Marcus looked terrified.
Nia turned the photograph over again.
A name was written beneath the picture.
*Denise Carter.*
But that wasn't what shocked her.
It was the handwriting underneath.
May you like
A second sentence.
*And she isn't Darius's mother.*