Chapter 9: The Truth Nia Buried
Everything happened at once.
Evelyn screamed.
Tasha grabbed my shoulder.
Marcus lunged toward Nia.
The gun fired.
The sound exploded through the office.
I dropped to the floor.
Glass shattered behind me.
For one terrible second, I thought someone had been hit.
Then I heard Tasha screaming.
“Mom!””
Nia stood frozen.
The gun slipped from her hand.
Marcus kicked it across the floor.
“Are you insane?””
Nia stared at him.
“She was going to take everything.””
Elena ran through the front door.
She looked nothing like the woman I had imagined.
She was older than the voice in my memories.
Her dark hair was streaked with gray.
Rain soaked her coat.
But her eyes were exactly what I remembered from the photographs.
The same eyes as mine.
She looked at me.
And stopped.
“Maya.””
I couldn't move.
She took one step closer.
Then another.
“I've waited seventeen years to say that.””
My throat tightened.
“You're really my mother?””
She nodded.
“I am.””
I looked at Nia.
She was crying.
“You lied to me.””
Nia shook her head.
“I raised you.””
“That isn't an answer.””
“I loved you.””
“You stole my life.””
“No.””
Her voice broke.
“I saved it.””
Elena stepped forward.
“You saved yourself.””
Nia looked at her.
“You don't know what happened.””
“I know exactly what happened.””
“No, you don't.””
“I know you took my baby.””
Nia flinched.
“I know you told Daniel he would never see her.””
“I didn't.””
“I know you changed the birth records.””
“I had no choice.””
“You always had a choice.””
Marcus stood between them.
“Stop.””
Both women turned toward him.
Marcus looked exhausted.
“It's over.””
Nia shook her head.
“No.””
“It is.””
“No, Marcus.””
She looked at me.
“Your grandmother started this.””
Evelyn interrupted.
“Your grandmother ended it.””
She held up the sealed letter.
“Nora Johnson left instructions that the truth be released on Maya's seventeenth birthday.””
Nia stared at the letter.
“She promised she wouldn't.””
“She changed her mind.””
Nia's face collapsed.
I looked at Elena.
“What happened to Daniel?””
Elena closed her eyes.
“He found the accounts.””
“What accounts?””
“The trusts.””
She looked at Tasha.
“Your father discovered that money was being moved out of the children's accounts.””
Tasha whispered,
“By Marcus?””
Elena shook her head.
“Not at first.””
“Then who?””
Elena looked at Nia.
My mother began crying.
I already knew.
“Nia.””
She covered her face.
“I never meant for anyone to get hurt.””
Tasha stared at her.
“You stole from me.””
“I borrowed it.””
“That word again.””
Nia looked at her.
“I was drowning.””
“In what?””
“Debt.””
I felt numb.
“How much?””
“Too much.””
“Did you take money from my trust too?””
Nia nodded.
“I used some.””
“How much?””
She couldn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“Nearly ninety thousand dollars.””
I closed my eyes.
Every lie had been built on another lie.
Marcus had stolen from Tasha.
Nia had stolen from both trusts.
They had blamed each other.
And somehow, I had been placed in the center of it.
“Then why the car?””
I looked at Marcus.
He swallowed.
“Your mother wanted to transfer the remaining money before the bank discovered the discrepancies.””
Nia snapped,
“You were supposed to handle it quietly.””
Tasha looked between them.
“So you were working together.””
“Yes,” Marcus said.
Nia stared at him.
“You promised me.””
“I changed my mind.””
“When?””
“When I realized Maya had started asking questions.””
My chest tightened.
“The birthday party.””
Marcus nodded.
“The car was supposed to make you happy enough that you wouldn't question the paperwork.””
I laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
“You tried to buy my silence.””
“I was trying to buy time.””
“And you used Tasha's money.””
“Yes.””
Tasha turned away.
Her shoulders shook.
I went to her.
She wiped her eyes.
“I'm sorry.””
“I know.””
“No, Tasha. I mean it.””
She looked at me.
“You didn't do this.””
“But I benefited.””
“So did they.””
She pointed toward Marcus and Nia.
“They're the ones who made the choices.””
Behind us, Elena quietly said,
“There's still one thing you don't know.””
I turned.
She reached inside her coat.
She pulled out a small envelope.
It was old.
Yellowed.
The edges were worn.
My name was written on it.
*Maya.*
I took it.
“What's this?””
“Your father's last letter.””
My heart stopped.
“Daniel wrote this?””
“He gave it to me the day before he died.””
“Why didn't you give it to me?””
“Because I was told you would never be safe if the truth came out.””
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel holding a baby.
Me.
On the back, he had written:
*My little girl. I will find you.*
Tears filled my eyes.
Then I saw the date.
The photograph had been taken two days before his death.
I looked at Elena.
“What happened two days later?””
She swallowed.
“He was supposed to meet your grandmother.””
“About the trusts?””
“Yes.””
“And Marcus?””
“He followed him.””
I turned toward Marcus.
His face had gone pale.
“You followed my father.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Nia told me Daniel had stolen money.””
I stared.
“She lied?””
Marcus nodded.
“I believed her.””
Tasha whispered,
“And then?””
Marcus's eyes filled with tears.
“I followed Daniel to the old warehouse.””
Elena stepped forward.
“You found him there.””
“Yes.””
“What happened?””
Marcus shook his head.
“I got there after the crash.””
I looked at him.
“What crash?””
“Daniel's car went through the guardrail.””
“You said it was an accident.””
“It was.””
“Then why did Grandma say you lied?””
“Because I lied about being there.””
I felt my heart crack open.
“You watched him die?””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I tried to save him.””
“And you never told anyone?””
“I was afraid they'd blame me.””
“You let everyone think he was some criminal.””
“I was scared.””
Tasha stared at him.
“You've spent seventeen years being scared.””
Marcus looked at her.
“And you spent seventeen years paying for it.””
The words hung in the air.
Then Elena stepped closer.
“Daniel wasn't killed.””
I looked at her.
“But the accident wasn't random.””
She pulled a folded photograph from her coat.
A picture of Daniel's car.
The guardrail.
The road.
And behind the wreck was another vehicle.
A black SUV.
I stared at it.
“That isn't Marcus's car.””
“No.””
“Whose is it?””
Elena looked toward Nia.
Nia began sobbing.
“It was mine.””
The room went silent.
I couldn't speak.
Nia shook her head.
“I wasn't trying to kill him.””
“What were you trying to do?””
“Stop him.””
“From doing what?””
“From exposing me.””
My stomach turned.
“You followed my father?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Nia looked at me.
“Because he had proof.””
“Proof of what?””
She slowly reached into her purse.
She pulled out a flash drive.
“Proof that your biological father wasn't the first person Marcus and I stole from.””
I stared at the tiny device.
“Who was?””
Nia looked at Tasha.
Then at me.
“Your grandmother.””
Evelyn stepped forward.
“What did you do?””
Nia's voice became barely audible.
“We didn't steal her money.””
She looked at me.
“We stole her identity.””
I frowned.
“What does that mean?””
Nia held out the flash drive.
“It means the person who has been controlling your family's money for seventeen years…”
She stopped.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“…was never Nia Johnson.””
I looked at my mother.
Then at Elena.
Then at Marcus.
No one spoke.
Finally, Nia whispered,
May you like
“My real name is not Nia.””
And on the flash drive was the proof that she had been living under another woman's identity since the day I was born.
