Chapter 4: The Man Charles Paid to Disappear
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything except the sound of my own breathing.
Jaylen's words hung in the living room like smoke.
“Charles paid Marcus to leave?””
I repeated the sentence slowly, as though saying it differently might make it less devastating.
Jaylen nodded.
Charles immediately stepped toward him.
“That's enough.””
“No,” I said.
Charles stopped.
I had spent months swallowing questions because I was afraid of the answers. I had accepted late-night phone calls, canceled plans, whispered promises, and excuses that changed every time I challenged them. I had convinced myself that love required patience.
Now my infant son was sleeping against my chest while three people who claimed to care about me stood around a secret that had apparently been bought and sold.
“Jaylen,” I said, “tell me exactly what you mean.””
He looked at Charles, then at Letreya.
“I think we should sit down.””
“I don't want to sit down. I want you to tell me why the man who promised to be my child's father paid my former fiancé to disappear.””
Charles laughed sharply.
“You're making this sound like some kind of conspiracy.””
Letreya held up her phone.
“Then explain the laboratory report.””
Charles looked at the screen.
“It's a preliminary result. It proves nothing.””
“It proves somebody ordered a test,” Letreya replied.
“And you knew about it before any of us did.””
“Because I was trying to establish the truth.””
“By paying a man to disappear?””
Charles's jaw tightened.
“That has nothing to do with this.””
I felt my knees weaken.
“Everything has to do with this.””
My son stirred, making a tiny, sleepy sound. I shifted him higher against my chest and rubbed his back.
“Jaylen,” I whispered, “how do you know about Marcus?””
My cousin dragged a hand over his face.
“Three weeks ago, Charles called me. He asked whether I still had the old number Marcus used. I told him I did, but I wanted to know why.””
“And?””
“He said he needed to find someone who could answer questions about your pregnancy.””
I stared at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I thought it was just another argument between you and Charles. I didn't know he'd actually contacted Marcus.””
Charles folded his arms.
“You're leaving out the part where you helped me locate him.””
Jaylen's face darkened.
“I gave you a number. I didn't know you were planning to pay him.””
“You didn't ask.””
“Because I trusted you!””
The words struck something in the room.
For the first time, Jaylen wasn't looking at Charles like an older man who knew better. He was looking at him like someone who had discovered that respect could be exploited.
Letreya approached her husband.
“How much?””
Charles frowned.
“What?””
“How much did you pay Marcus?””
“Letreya, this isn't your concern.””
She gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“I'm your wife. You brought another woman's pregnancy into our marriage, ordered a paternity test, and apparently paid her former fiancé to vanish. Don't tell me what concerns me.””
Charles glanced at me.
“I paid him to stay away from Jamiya.””
My heart stopped.
“You what?””
“He was causing problems. I wanted him out of the picture.””
“What problems?””
Charles exhaled through his nose.
“Marcus contacted me after he learned about the baby. He claimed you had been seeing him again.””
I stared at him.
“That is a lie.””
“I don't know that.””
“You know I hadn't spoken to Marcus in almost a year!””
“You showed me your phone. You didn't show me every phone call you ever made.””
The cruelty of his answer left me speechless.
He had taken a possibility, wrapped it around his jealousy, and used it to justify destroying my peace.
I remembered Marcus standing outside my old apartment on a rainy evening, holding a paper bag of groceries because I'd told him I was too exhausted to shop. I remembered the way he listened when I talked about my father's death. I remembered our engagement ring, the small diamond that caught the kitchen light when he held my hand.
Then I remembered the last time I saw him.
He had come to my apartment looking frightened.
“Jamiya, I need to talk to you,” he had said.
I was angry because he had canceled our plans for the third time that week.
“Then talk.””
He looked over his shoulder toward the parking lot.
“Not here.””
“Marcus, if you're breaking up with me, just say it.””
He flinched.
“I'm not trying to hurt you.””
“Then stop acting like a stranger.””
He opened his mouth, but his phone rang. He looked at the screen and went pale.
“I have to go.””
“Of course you do.””
He walked away without explaining.
Three days later, his apartment was empty. His phone number was disconnected. His employer said he had resigned.
I had called every number I could find.
Eventually, I stopped.
I had assumed he had chosen another life over me.
Now I was learning that someone might have paid him to make that choice.
“Did Marcus say he was the baby's father?”” I asked.
Charles hesitated.
That hesitation answered more than his words ever could.
“What did he tell you?””
“He said there was a chance.””
“A chance?””
“He said he had been with you shortly before he left Atlanta.””
I shook my head.
“He was gone months before I got pregnant.””
Charles looked away.
“That's not what he told me.””
“Then you should have asked me!””
“I did ask you.””
“No, you accused me. You made me defend myself against a story you bought from a man you paid to disappear.””
My voice broke.
Tiana came to stand beside me, her eyes wet.
“Charles, how could you do this to her?””
He rubbed his forehead.
“Because I didn't want to raise another man's child while my own family fell apart.””
Letreya stared at him.
“You have children who are grown, Charles. Your youngest daughter is twenty-three. What exactly were you afraid of losing?””
“My life!””
The room went still.
Charles seemed to realize what he had shouted.
He lowered his voice.
“My reputation. My marriage. Everything I've spent thirty years building.””
I looked at him, unable to believe that a man could say those things while standing in front of a woman holding his infant child.
“And what about what I built?”” I asked.
“What about the home I prepared for my baby? What about the nights I cried because you couldn't call me when your wife was awake? What about my son?””
Charles's eyes flicked toward the baby.
“I never wanted to hurt him.””
“You were willing to let him grow up believing his father didn't want him.””
“I didn't know whether I was his father!””
“You held him,” I whispered.
“You held him in your arms and told him you were going to protect him.””
Charles had no answer.
Letreya sat down slowly, her phone still in her hand.
“Show me the payment,” she said.
Charles turned toward her.
“What payment?””
“The money you gave Marcus. You told us you wanted the truth. Show us the proof of what you did.””
“I'm not showing you my bank records.””
“Then I suppose we'll have to ask a lawyer to do it.””
Charles's expression changed.
“You wouldn't.””
Letreya looked up at him.
“Try me.””
I had never seen her look so calm while she was angry. She wasn't shouting anymore. She wasn't calling me a liar. She was watching her husband as though she had finally realized that the man she trusted had been keeping an entirely separate life hidden behind familiar gestures.
Jaylen took his phone from his pocket.
“I saved the messages.””
Charles spun toward him.
“You did what?””
“The ones you sent me about the baby. The ones where you told me to keep Jamiya away from you. I saved them because I knew something about this didn't feel right.””
“You went through my private information?””
“You sent it to me!””
Charles took another step, but Jaylen didn't retreat.
I looked at my cousin.
“Do you have anything from Marcus?””
Jaylen hesitated, then opened his messages.
“There was one number Charles gave me. He said it belonged to a private investigator. The investigator texted me last week asking if I knew where Marcus was.””
“Did you answer?””
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because the investigator asked me something strange.””
Jaylen turned the phone toward me.
The message was short.
Has Jamiya ever told you what happened the night Marcus left?
My skin prickled.
I read it twice.
“What night did Marcus leave?”” I asked.
Jaylen shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Charles suddenly reached for the phone.
Jaylen pulled it away.
“Stop trying to control everything!””
“I am trying to stop you from destroying this family over a misunderstanding.””
“Then tell us the truth!””
Charles stared at him.
Then, slowly, his expression hardened into something I didn't recognize.
“Fine,” he said.
“You want the truth? Marcus didn't just take my money and leave.””
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?””
Charles looked directly at me.
“Marcus came to me because he was afraid of what you would do when you learned what happened that night.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What did happen that night?””
Charles opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, Letreya's phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
There was no greeting, no explanation.
Just one sentence.
If you want to know who Jamiya's baby's father really is, ask Charles why he deleted the original DNA report.
Letreya slowly raised her eyes toward her husband.
“Charles,” she whispered, “what original report?””
He didn't answer.
And for the first time, I realized that the laboratory document might not have been the only evidence he had hidden.
May you like
Someone else knew the truth.
Someone who was no longer willing to keep it buried.
