Chapter 9 - The Mask Slips
The printed papers slid across the polished wood of the table, coming to a rest right beside the half-eaten plates of food. Nia stared down at them, her breath catching in her throat, while Evelyn leaned forward slowly, her wrinkled hands trembling as she reached out to touch the top document.
"What is this?" Evelyn whispered, her voice barely audible.
"That," Maya said, her voice dripping with ice, "is a copy of a federal indictment from five years out of state. Marcus—or whatever his real name is—has a criminal record for identity theft, financial fraud, and running multi-layered romance scams across three different states."
Nia sank slowly back into her remaining upright chair, her hands flying to cover her mouth. "No... no, that's not true. He's a contractor. He helped us remodel the kitchen. He showed me his license!"
"A fake ID, Nia," Maya said, stepping closer, looking down at her sister with a mix of fury and profound pity. "He didn't remodel our kitchen. He cased our house. He figured out that Dad was dead, Mom was vulnerable, I was working, and you were lonely. We were sitting ducks."
Evelyn stared at the mugshot printed on the top page of the dossier. The face was undeniably Marcus, though the hair was shorter and the eyes looked colder, stripped of the charm he wore like a tailored suit.
"He knew about your father's estate," Evelyn muttered, the pieces finally clicking together in her mind with terrifying clarity. "He asked all those questions about the property titles months ago. I thought he was just being conversational."
"He was doing reconnaissance," Maya corrected sharply. She crossed her arms over her maroon top, her dark jeans tight against her legs as she paced the length of the dining room. "And now he’s gone. His phone is disconnected. The car he was driving is registered to a rental agency under a completely fictitious corporate shell."
Nia started crying again, a low, desperate sound of pure humiliation. "What are we going to do, Maya? The baby... I don't even have a job that can cover rent. And the bank called you too, didn't they?"
Maya stopped pacing and looked down at her sister. "Yes. The bank called me. They're seizing the house by the end of the week."
"We'll be homeless," Evelyn whispered, staring straight ahead at the wall where the wine glass had shattered earlier. "Everything your father built... everything I sacrificed for... gone in a matter of hours."
"Not everything," Maya said quietly, pulling a small, battered leather notebook out of her jacket pocket.
Both Evelyn and Nia turned their heads sharply to look at her.
"What's that?" Nia asked, wiping her nose.
"When I went to the bank, the manager gave me this," Maya explained, holding up the notebook. "It was locked in Dad's safety deposit box alongside the papers Nia found. Dad knew something was wrong with Marcus months ago. He hired a private investigator."
Maya flipped open the worn leather cover, her eyes scanning the handwritten notes inside. As she read the final page, her face went completely pale, and she stopped dead in her tracks.
"What does it say?" Evelyn demanded, fear gripping her voice.
May you like
Maya looked up slowly, her eyes wide with shock. "Dad didn't just investigate Marcus. He investigated Chloe, too. And... and he found out something about our mother that changes everything."
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