The Devil Is a Lie (19 page)

“A
ll right, explain this to me again.”

Michelle squeezed Nina’s hand as if she were trying to give her the strength to explain for the fourth time what happened. The potbellied police officer kept glancing at the clock on the drab station wall, like he couldn’t wait for his shift to end.

“As I already told you. I came home to find his stuff gone. He wiped out my bank account. He packed his stuff and he’s gone.” Nina struggled to ward off her tears. She’d been crying for the past three hours. Thankfully, Michelle hadn’t left her side.

“And this man, you’re not married to him?”

“No.”

“Yet he was a joint owner of your account?”

The way he said it made her feel so stupid. Sure, in the beginning she had questioned whether it was wise to share an account, but Rick had never given her any reason to believe he was capable of something like this. In fact, he deposited his money in her account all the time, and she’d never had a problem. Until now.

“Look, can she just file the report?” Michelle asked.

“I can’t do it,” the officer said, shaking his head. “As far as the Houston Police Department is concerned, he didn’t do anything illegal. If you gave him full access to your accounts, he is within his rights to take anything in it.”

Nina swallowed hard. She had expected him to say exactly that, but it still hurt like crazy.

“You might try a civil suit. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said flatly.

Nina glared at the officer. “Thanks for nothing,” she said before stomping out of the station.

“Nina, come stay with me for a couple of days,” Michelle said once they were back outside at the car.

“No, with the twins you don’t need me in the way. I’ll be fine.” She didn’t really believe that, and she was sure Michelle didn’t either, but Michelle left it alone.

Nina wasn’t in much of a mood to talk the rest of the way home. She kept replaying in her mind any signs that she should have seen to indicate that Rick could do something like this. Had he taken her money and run off with that Dior woman? Why hadn’t she followed her gut and investigated that situation further? Was she that naive and stupid? Why in the world
would she put his name on her account? The questions just kept coming, pounding at her over and over.

After Michelle parked the car at her place, Nina made her go home. She wanted to be alone. She had just fixed herself some hot tea when someone began banging on the front door. She contemplated ignoring it, but judging by the way the person was pounding, they weren’t going away. It definitely wasn’t Michelle, because the person on the other side was banging like they’d lost their mind.

“Who is it?” Nina yelled.

“Open the door!”

Nina took a deep breath, then opened the door. “Yvonne, what do you want?”

Yvonne came barreling inside. “I signed the lease!” she screamed.

Nina slowly shut the door. “What is it, Yvonne?”

“I signed the lease on my new business. I’m an entrepreneur!” Yvonne shouted as she excitedly waved a piece of paper in front of her sister. “Let’s go celebrate.”

Nina nearly groaned. “Yvonne, you know what, now is really not the time.”

Yvonne finally noticed her sister’s bleak mood. “Nina, what’s going on?”

Nina couldn’t help it. The tears once again came rushing forward. “It’s Rick!” she sobbed as she collapsed on the couch.

Yvonne eased down next to her sister. “Whoa, what’s wrong, Nina? What about Rick?”

“H-he stole all of my money,” Nina cried.

“What?”

“He stole my money,” Nina said. “I called the bank and it was gone.”

“Gone?” Yvonne’s mouth dropped wide open. “As in no more?”

Nina nodded.

“How did he get it out of the bank?”

Nina debated whether to make up something to tell her sister, but she simply didn’t have the energy to think up a lie. “He was a joint owner of my account.”

Yvonne looked at her like she was stone-cold crazy.

“Tell me that you did not have this man on your account.”

“Yvonne, we were about to be married.” Nina dabbed her eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you,
about to be
ain’t the same as
already are
. You know I believe you need to have separate accounts when you’re married, but you dang sure need them separate before you even say ‘I do.’”

Nina cast her eyes down in shame. Yvonne wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t said to herself countless times over the last few hours.

“Did you call the cops?” Yvonne finally asked.

“Yes. There’s nothing they can do. He’s an authorized owner of the account.”

“You didn’t at least have a withdrawal limit?” Yvonne asked.

“What is that?”

Yvonne shook her head in disbelief. “It’s where the other signer can only withdraw so much on an account.”

“No, how was I supposed to know that?” Nina said, surprised that her ghetto-fabulous sister knew something so important.

“Because you had four million dollars!” Yvonne said. “And they say you’re the smart one.”

“Please, Yvonne.”

Yvonne held up her hands. “Okay, I know you’re beating yourself up enough. So what does all this mean?”

“It means I’m broke. He took my money, even what I had before I won the lottery.” Nina couldn’t help it, another loud sob escaped from her throat. She half expected Yvonne to continue going off, but she was pleasantly surprised when her sister wrapped her arms around her and stroked her hair.

“Don’t cry, Nina. It’s gonna be okay.”

“You think so?” Nina sniffed. She couldn’t remember the last time she and her sister hugged.

“Not really,” Yvonne replied. “But it seemed like what I was supposed to say.”

Nina smiled through her tears.

“So what are you going to do?” Yvonne asked.

Nina shrugged as she tried to pull herself together. “Try to find him. Hope this is all just a big misunderstanding.”

“Do you think there’s a chance that it might be?”

“Nope,” Nina replied matter-of-factly. “I think it’s just wishful thinking on my part. Something tells me Rick is long gone.”

Nina fell back against her sofa. Her nightmare had gone from bad to worse, and she simply didn’t see how it could get any better.

I
f life was supposed to be so good, why did he feel so bad? That’s what Todd asked himself as he sat in the living room of his new condo overlooking the Galleria. This was the type of place he’d dreamed of living in, but he’d never felt more alone. Money was no fun if you had no one to spend it with. Pam was definitely out of the question. She didn’t know about the new place, which he’d found and bought in a week, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Todd looked around the drab living room area and didn’t even know where to start. Hopefully, his cousin Shari could help this place feel more like a home.

“Okay, I checked out the bedroom and picked out some colors, so I’ll bring back some swatches for you to tell me
what you think,” Shari said, walking out of his bedroom.

“Whatever you come up with is fine,” Todd replied.

Shari looked up from her design samples and stared at her cousin. “Okay,” she said, mystified, “help me understand how you can be a millionaire in this fabulous condo, sitting around here like you lost your best friend?” Her eyes grew wide. “It’s not your grandmother, is it?”

Todd shook his head. “No, so far so good. The heart appears to be taking and there are no complications. Of course, she still has to go through recovery, but overall, it seems like the surgery was a success.”

She had known all that, so she was still puzzled. “Good. Then what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Just the drama with Pam, I guess.”

Shari shook her head. “I told you that girl was a psycho. Did you get a restraining order?”

Todd nodded. Pam had made his life a living hell over the past two weeks. She’d stuffed a Snickers bar into his gas tank, posted fliers all over his old workplace that said he had herpes, and called him all day, every day, until he finally changed his number. He’d even gone so far as to offer her twenty-five thousand dollars just so she wouldn’t be totally shafted. She’d balked at the offer, reminding him that she was the reason he had anything. She let him know that if she couldn’t enjoy life as a millionaire, neither would he.

“I got a restraining order, but it’s not like a piece of paper will stop Pam. I’m just hoping she gets tired of harassing me and goes on about her business.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Shari closed her design book. “Between you and Nina, I swear. If you had just stayed with each other, you wouldn’t have these problems.”

Todd perked up at the mention of Nina’s name. She’d been dominating his thoughts since their embrace at the hospital. She’d called to check on Grams a couple of times, but she was always short and quickly ended their conversations.

“So, let me ask you, is her fiancé a good guy?” he asked.

Shari’s mouth dropped open. “You haven’t heard?”

“Haven’t heard what?” He instantly jumped to the best scenario he could imagine. “Did Nina and Rick break up, too?”

Shari sat down across from him like she had to get comfortable to share some good gossip. “Nina and Rick broke up, all right,” she said, lowering her voice, even though it was just the two of them in the condo. “Nina is my girl, but you’re fam, so I’m gonna tell you, but you know I don’t like gossiping.”

“Would you just tell me already?”

Shari spoke slowly. “Rick ran off with her money.”

“What?”

She nodded. “Every dime. Cleaned her out and bounced.”

Todd was on the edge of his seat now. “No way.”

“Yes, way. She didn’t see it coming. Just looked up and Rick and all her money was gone.”

“All the lottery winnings?”

“Every dime. Good thing she gave her family cashier’s checks because she would’ve had checks bouncing all over the place.”

Todd sat back, stunned. “H-how is she doing?”

“Better than I would be,” Shari said with an attitude. “Because I would straight be hunting him down. I wouldn’t rest until I had my money back and he was six feet under.”

“Wow.”

Shari stood. “‘Wow’ is right. I called to check on her this morning, but she really didn’t feel like talking. She’s been kinda distant since all this lotto mess.”

“I’m sorry, Shari.”

She didn’t blame him. “It is what it is. I ain’t mad at her. If it was me, I’d be hot with you and anybody related to you, too.” She smiled as she headed to the door. “I’m going shopping tomorrow. What’s my budget again?”

“Just don’t go overboard.”

She hugged him. “Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. I love clients like you.” She opened the door, but then stopped before walking out. “Oh, and Todd, don’t even think about calling Nina and letting her know you know about the money.”

He stared blankly at his cousin as she winked and closed the door. Shari knew him very well because that was exactly what he was planning to do—call Nina.

N
ina didn’t know what her grandmother could possibly want. She’d tried to get out of going over because she was still in a funk. In the week and a half since Rick stole her money, she’d been unable to face the world. Nina didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Her grandmother wasn’t hearing it, though, and had insisted she come.

As soon as she pulled up, Nina saw several cars parked outside her grandmother’s. That’s all she needed: a family get-together.

Yvonne was the first person she saw. But she quickly popped out her cell phone and walked out of the room so Nina couldn’t talk to her.

“Grandma Odessa, what’s going on?” Nina said as she en
tered the house. Several of her relatives were sitting around on the plastic-covered furniture.

“I’d like to know that, too,” Uncle Buster said.

“Yeah, I got a plane leaving for Miami in fifteen minutes,” Lee Roy said. “I’m going to the BET Hip Hop Awards.”

Nina shook her head. Lee Roy needed to be buying a house so he could move out of Uncle Buster’s garage. Instead he was jet-setting around the country going to award shows.

Nina thought back to all the money she’d given her relatives. Now she wished she hadn’t. But then again, if she hadn’t, Rick would’ve just taken that, too.

“Hey, baby,” her grandmother said, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked into the living room.

“Now that she’s here, can you tell us what this is all about?” Aunt Frances said.

Nina’s eyes were questioning as well, and she noticed Yvonne had reappeared in the doorway.

“Everybody sit down,” her grandmother ordered. “I have asked all of you to gather here for a very important reason. Now, you know that out of the goodness of her heart, Nina gave you more money than you’ll see in five years, more money some of you will see in your lifetime,” she added, eyeing Lee Roy. He grinned like she had just paid him a compliment.

“Well,” Grandma Odessa continued, “Nina was there for her family. Now it’s time for us to be there for her.”

Nina’s eyes widened as she realized what her grandmother was doing.

“Nina’s man done run off with all her money.”

“Grandma!” Nina admonished. She did not want her family all up in her business.

Everyone started rumbling and talking at the same time.

“Hush and let me finish,” her grandmother said. “He done robbed her blind and ain’t nothing she can do about it.”

“I told you, I told you he was shifty,” Aunt Frances exclaimed as she jumped up. “Y’all gon’ learn to listen to me.”

“Sit down, Frances,” Odessa said. “Now’s not the time for I told you so’s. Now’s the time for us to come together in the true Morgan spirit. My daddy didn’t have much, but he taught us that what one of us in this family got, we all got.”

Lee Roy stood and peered outside. “Ummm, I’d love to stay here and help out, but I think that’s my ride outside honking.”

“Sit down, boy. Ain’t nobody outside,” Odessa snapped.

Lee Roy stuck his bottom lip out but sat back down.

“We need to be here for Nina just like she was here for us. She gave everybody in this room some money, and I’d like you all to return the favor.”

“Grandma…” Nina couldn’t believe what her grandmother was doing.

“How she gon’ give us some money, then take it back?” Janay said. Nina had broken down and given the twins ten thousand dollars after they whined about being left out.

“You’re lucky you got anything in the first place, you little thief. Speaking of which,” Odessa said, looking around the room, “where’s my purse? Yvonne, go check and make sure my purse is in my room.”

“I didn’t take your purse,” Janay said, crossing her arms, trying to look offended.

Odessa ignored her and continued talking. “Nina didn’t know anything about this. She would never ask for any of the money back, so I’m asking for her. Now, I’ll start.” She pulled a check out of her bosom. “I did take sixteen thousand dollars and pay off my house, but here’s a check for the remaining money. I want you to have this.” She thrust the check at her granddaughter.

Nina looked down at the check for $384,000 and wanted to cry. “Grandma, no.”

“No, my foot,” Odessa said, taking Nina’s hand and pushing the check in it. “I was doing just fine before you gave me all that money, and I’ll be doing just fine afterward. Shoot, I paid off my house. That’s more of a blessing than I could ever have hoped for.” She turned back to her relatives. “Now, I want some more of y’all to follow suit.”

“We gotta give her
all
the money back?” Aunt Frances asked in disbelief. “Because Clevon really needs to get his foot fixed. That gangrene ’bout to set in.”

“Aunt Frances, TMI,” Yvonne said. “TMI.”

“What does that mean?” Frances asked.

Janay leaned in and whispered to her mother. “Too much information, Mama.”

“Anyway, you don’t have to give her all the money back. Just give her some,” Odessa continued.

“Ain’t what you gave her enough?” Lee Roy asked.

Odessa cut her eyes at her grandson. He, too, crossed his arms in defiance.

“Yvonne?” Odessa said, deciding to ignore Lee Roy altogether. Yvonne was shifting nervously from side to side, looking like she wanted to cry.

“We already talked about this,” Odessa said calmly.

Yvonne took a deep breath as if she was trying to muster up the strength to give Nina the money. Finally, she walked over and handed Nina a check for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. “Here,” Yvonne said. “I already spent the other part.”

“Yvonne, you didn’t have to do this,” Nina said.

“Okay, then,” Yvonne hurriedly said, reaching to take the check back.

Odessa slapped her hand.

“I was just playing,” Yvonne said, even though it was obvious that she wasn’t.

“Anybody else?” Odessa asked.

Lee Roy stood up, frustrated. “I don’t understand. That’s a whole lot of money the girl got right there. What does she need the rest of our money for?” he said. “Plus, we didn’t get nearly as much as y’all.”

Nina stood up before her grandmother could berate her cousin. “No. No more. I can’t do this. I gave this money as a gift and to be a blessing to my family.”

“And now we’re trying to be a blessing to you,” Odessa replied. “If you ever catch Rick and get your money back, then fine, you can give it back to us. But in the meantime, take this money and start over.”

Nina fingered the check. If she kept the money, she would be able to make good on the check she sent to pay off her house
and get herself together until the real estate market rebounded.

Tears started trickling down Nina’s cheeks. She couldn’t believe her family had come through like this.

“Grandma, let’s compromise,” she finally sniffed. “Let’s split the money.”

“No. I don’t need all that money,” Odessa said adamantly. “I don’t have but a few good years left anyway.”

Nina knew it was useless to argue with her grandmother, so she turned to Yvonne. “I know you really want to get your business started, so here, I’m not going to take any of your money.” Nina handed Yvonne the check. Yvonne hesitated, then snatched the check back.

Odessa shot her a disapproving look.

“What?” Yvonne said. “We can’t make the girl take the money.”

“Grandma, seriously, it’s okay. You have blessed me more than you’ll ever know. This money will help me get back on my feet. It may even be enough to try and get my realty business off the ground.”

“You supposed to be laid up on an island somewhere, relaxing, not worrying about starting over,” Frances said sorrowfully.

“Well, it is what it is,” Nina replied.

“Well, if you hadn’t trusted—”

“Uh-uh,” Odessa said, holding up her hand to cut her daughter off. “If ‘if’ was a fifth, we’d all be drunk.”

Janay turned to her mother. “What does that mean?”

“It’s one of your grandma’s cockamamie sayings,” Frances said. “It means we can’t be talking about what-ifs.”

“Exactly,” Odessa said. “We need to look to the future. I hope this has taught us a valuable lesson.”

“Yeah, don’t play the lottery,” Frances said.

“And if you do win, don’t tell nobody but your family,” Uncle Buster shouted.

Nina laughed for the first time in days.