Chapter 2: What Was Hidden in the Pocket
Marcus didn't move from between them.
"Tara, before anyone leaves this house, we're checking every room."
Tara's eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me?"
"The purse.
The money.
Everything." His voice was quiet but there was no room in it for argument.
Tara let out a sharp laugh.
"You're going to take her word over mine?"
"I'm not taking anyone's word.
That's the point."
Maya stood completely still, her arms wrapped around herself, watching her father with red-rimmed eyes.
Marcus walked to the couch and picked up Tara's purse himself.
He opened it slowly, calmly, and began setting things on the coffee table one by one.
Tara's jaw tightened.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't answer.
Then his hand stopped.
He reached into a small inner pocket — the kind most people forget is even there — and pulled out a folded fifty-dollar bill.
The room went absolutely silent.
Maya's mouth fell open.
Tara's face changed in a way that was impossible to miss.
"That's…" she started.
"Your missing fifty dollars," Marcus said, his voice completely flat.
He looked up at her slowly.
And what he saw in her expression wasn't relief.
May you like
It was something else entirely.
😶
