Chapter 2
PART THREE — THE DEBT THAT NEVER EXISTED
Marcus read the number twice.
One thousand four hundred eighty-six dollars.
Supposedly owed by a twelve-year-old child for food, electricity, detergent, clothes, and household supplies.
He slowly placed the paper on the counter.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“What exactly happens when she turns sixteen?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“She gets a job.”
Marcus stared at her.
“And?”
“She starts paying it back.”
He almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You expect my daughter to repay you for food?”
“It’s not like that.”
“What is it like?”
“I’m teaching her how the real world works.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You spoil her.”
Marcus pointed toward Caleb.
“Giving a child chores is responsibility.”
Then Ava.
“Everyone contributing is responsibility.”
Then he picked up the ledger.
“This is not responsibility.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“This is debt.”
“You always take her side.”
Marcus frowned.
“My side?”
“You baby her because of what happened.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
Vanessa looked away.
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“Say it.”
She didn’t.
Marcus waited.
Finally, Vanessa exploded.
“She lost her mother when she was four, and I’ve had to live with that woman’s ghost ever since!”
The sentence came out too fast for Vanessa to stop it.
Nia froze.
Marcus didn’t move.
Vanessa immediately realized what she had revealed.
The silence that followed was different from everything before it.
Marcus looked at her as if he were seeing her clearly for the first time.
“So that’s what this is.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
He looked toward Nia.
The endless chores.
The smaller privileges.
The missing money.
The constant reminder that Caleb and Ava were Vanessa’s children.
The implication that Nia was something else.
A burden.
A guest.
Someone who had to earn the right to stay.
Marcus’s voice dropped.
“You resent her because Sarah existed.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
“You resent the fact that my daughter still loves her mother.”
“No.”
“You’ve spent years making her pay for something she can’t control.”
Vanessa stepped toward him.
“You’re twisting everything.”
Marcus picked up the debt ledger.
“No.”
He tore it in half.
Vanessa stared.
Marcus tore it again.
Then he dropped every piece into the trash.
May you like
Nia watched him without blinking.
Marcus turned toward
